NCDC centre to be set up in Hyderabad

The State health officials are in the process of setting up an NCDC branch in Hyderabad. The health authorities here are expected to provide 2 acres to 3 acres of land on the city outskirts for this purpose.

Senior public health experts said that the increase in the population, emerging and re-emerging communicable and infectious diseases, frequent outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics has made it inevitable to have a high-end diagnostic laboratory in and around the city. Of late, the health authorities had to grapple with suspected Ebola virus, pandemic swine flu, SARS outbreak, Bird flu etc. There were also challenges from relatively unknown diseases such as Nipah virus, Anthrax, Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever, Leptospirosis, scrub typhus etc.

Senior health officials said that in addition to containing and responding to outbreaks of



such diseases, there is a need to have a robust surveillance system that will enable surveillance experts to take preventive measures well within in the time.

It is in this context that Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the 12th five-year plan took the decision to upgrade the headquarters of NCDC in New Delhi. It was also envisaged to expand and fortify the presence of NCDC by opening branches in all the States.

Accordingly, it has been proposed to establish nearly 30 new branches of NCDC across the country. These branches will serve as centre for better disease surveillance, monitoring and response, and will be networked with one another and NCDC headquarters. Diagnostic facilities at State-level will also receive fillip as BSL-II level facilities can be facilitated in each NCDC branch.