NEW DELHI, 02 June 2021:

Mr Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog today said that the second wave has been more catastrophic than the first one and it overwhelmed the health system for a while. The government has taken a series of measures since then and there has been a steady decline in the number of active cases. “There has been further ramping up of the vaccination drive and the private sector has played a very pivotal role in managing the pandemic and has complimented the efforts of the government in a significant way,” he added.

Addressing the virtual ‘Interactive session on Saving Lives and Livelihood’, organized by FICCI, jointly with OYO, Mr Kant applauded the role of the private sector in the overall vaccination drive. “There may be a slight demand-supply imbalance in vaccination during June-July but from August onwards there will be an adequate amount of vaccines available. From then on, we should be able to vaccinate everybody in India properly and that should help us,” he added.

Mr Kant further said that all of us need to be responsible to save ourselves from a third wave because if the third wave happens, then the children and people in rural areas will get impacted. “We need to build up both hospital infrastructure and human resources. We need to ensure ICU facility at the grassroot level. This is also an opportunity for the private sector to come forward,” he added.

Mr Kant emphasized the need to build up a model of private public-partnership in which government acts as a facilitator and the private sector comes forward. “If we leave everything on the government, it will be difficult to achieve the goal. This is an opportunity to create the infrastructure in the rural areas and in tier-2,3 cities. We should not lose the momentum of creating good quality infrastructure and associations like FICCI will play a very important role in this,” he said.

The private sector, he said came forward in bolstering the supply chain, supplementing oxygen capabilities, ramping up of medical infrastructure and providing oxygen concentrators and technical assistance to several government agencies. “We are working with the private sector and international developmental organizations with an aim to forge strong partnership to strengthen our response to the pandemic,” Mr Kant added.

He further stated that when the situation worsened and international assistance started pouring in, we worked on a war footing to coordinate all assistance, ensured zero delays, and all items dispatched to destinations with the use of technology in a transparent manner. “We used technology to develop a fully digital and transparent end-to-end system which enabled all aid coming via government to government and private to government channels,” he noted.

Mr Kant also said that sectors like Tourism and Aviation are badly hit and would need the government support. “We should be as innovative as possible and support our industries both on the monetary as well as the fiscal side,” he added.

Mr Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO, OYO, said, “India Inc has shown immense resilience to COVID-19 in the past year. I would like to thank Mr Amitabh Kant for his words of encouragement & wisdom. We’ve opened our hotels to those who need the most during these times. As part of OYO CARE, we have partnered with hospitals and healthcare services providers to provide isolation and quarantine facilities to healthcare professionals and frontline workers. We also believe that vaccination will be key to build trust and confidence among travellers when they are ready to step out again. OYO is using technology to give its hotel staff vaccine visibility with the ‘VaccinAid’ feature on the app. Along with thousands of small and medium hotel partners, we are hopeful of combating the challenges posed by the pandemic & building a resilient OYO.”

Mr Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General, FICCI said that the current wave of COVID-19 has been much more severe and widespread than what we experienced last year. “FICCI will continue to support the initiatives of supporting the livelihoods of those associated with travel, tourism and hospitality industry,” he added.

Mr Anil Rajput, Member, Corporate Management Committee and Head, Corporate Affairs, ITC Ltd said that we need to remain prepared to fight new challenges while ensuring that we find a balance between lives and livelihood.

Mr Gaurav Gupta, Co-Founder & Head of Supply, Zomato; Mr Raghav Chandra, Co-Founder, Urban Company; Mr Rohit Kapoor, CEO, OYO India and South East Asia also shared their perspective on the steps taken by the industry in saving lives and livelihood.

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NEW DELHI, 25 June 2020: Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog today emphasized that in order to control COVID-19, it is imperative that the public health approach should be implemented effectively on the ground. Addressing a webinar ‘Public Health For Healthy Life’, organised as a part of  FICCI’s Virtual Healthcare & Hygiene Expo (VHHE) 2020, Dr Paul said, “We must look at the positive stories of COVID control. The public health approach to contain the disease through trace, test, isolate, quarantine and timely referral must be implemented on the ground effectively by the government, civil agencies, communities and all concerned stakeholders.”

Highlighting the role of community participation, Dr Paul said that it can play a major role if we work in an organized way by supporting those who have tested positive and staying isolated. “Young people must be involved in community participation for the containment of COVID-19. The heart of prevention is individual behaviour. We have to look at how we ensure positive behaviour that contains the spread of the virus,” he added.

Emphasising on five pillars for pandemic response, Dr Paul said, “Surveillance, containment and disease control should be the priority. Preparedness on part of hospitals for assured access to ambulance and care is also required. Home care should be reinforced and made more efficient by following prescribed protocols, along with safety of elderly and other people at home. We also need to protect the vulnerable population, people with co-morbidities and improve immunity through our time-tested traditional system of medicine.”

Highlighting the importance of technology and telemedicine, Dr Paul said “This is a historical time for telemedicine, and we must promote it to keep the doctor-patient relationship and trust intact,” He added, telemedicine will also help us in addressing the non-COVID patients, given the high burden of NCDs and other infectious diseases in the country. He urged FICCI to take the lead in developing a multipronged approach to telemedicine, through non-profit partnerships; and to come up with a public campaign to remove any stigma related to COVID-19 and promote mental well-being.

Dr Paul also released the FICCI Recommendations on further Strategy for COVID Containment. These recommendations have emanated from the FICCI Roundtable with leading epidemiologists, public health experts and members from healthcare industry that was organised virtually to deliberate on the future strategy for COVID containment earlier this month.

Dr Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI said that India is in the middle of fighting this battle, but we should also congratulate ourselves, government, public health response system, and all other agencies for thetremendous efforts and positive response in managing the crisis. “Our death rates are lower, and the lockdown bought us time for preparing to ramp up our capacities. We stayed connected with the medicine and the world to fight this crisis.”

Mr Ashok Kakkar, Chair, FICCI Swasth Bharat Task Force & Sr. MD, Varian Medical Systems International India Pvt. Ltd said, “Role and responsibility of individuals and community cannot be undermined in the current COVID scenario. We all need to realize that the responsibility of our health lies in our hands, and should work towards the key behavioral changes for maintaining hygiene, health and fitness to tackle the virus.”

Dr Amarjeet Singh, Professor & Head- Dept. of Community Medicine & School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh; Dr Samir Parikh, Consultant Psychiatrist, Director-Dept. of Mental Health &Behavioral Sciences, Fortis National Mental Health Program, Fortis Healthcare; Dr Suneela Garg, National President Elect – IAPSM, Director Professor HAG, Ex Head (CM) Sub Dean, MAMC & Head Community Medicine, FMS; Dr Subodh Gupta, Professor & HOD- Community Medicine, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Sewagram India also shared their perspectives on various aspects like health promotion, mental well-being, issues of stigma, gender and differently-abled, during the panel discussion.

A COVID self-assessment and action tool, for community preparedness and empowerment, that has been approved by NITI Aayog for 6 lakh panchayats was also shared in the panel discussion. Recommendations on ‘Strategy for COVID Containment’ released include: Preparedness of the Healthcare System, Strategy for controlled transmission and extensive data interpretation, Capacity Building, Community empowerment, Increased Testing, Quality Quarantine, Treatment.

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