The Union Minister for Health and Family WelfareDr. Harsh Vardhan today visited the Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi to take a comprehensive review of the COVID facilities available at the hospital and furtherstrengthen these facilities. The Union Minister first visited the IPD Block where a 240 bed facility is being setup, to be operational withintwo weeks. The Union Minister then visited the Vaccination Centre where he praised the efforts of the hospital in vaccinating people in a very well organized, orderly and disciplined manner.

As per the instructions of the Union Health Minister,the academic activities of the college were shifted to the New Academic Block resulting in further enhancementof bed capacity at theKalawati Saran children hospital and Smt.SuchetaKriplanihospital that are attached with Lady Hardinge Medical College. The bed capacity at KalawatiSaran Children Hospitalhas been increased by 30 bedsand the bed capacity in SuchetaKriplani Hospitalhas been increased by 112 bedsby shifting of the academic activities.

The Minister also dedicated the academic block for COVID warriors appreciating their untiring efforts in fighting the pandemic and working tirelessly and dedicatedly for helping people in these challenging times.

Dr Harsh Vardhan also praised the Doctors, Nurses and staff of Lady Hardinge Medical College for working with dedication in fighting the pandemic. He said that the hospital is at the forefront in the fight against COVID-19 since last year when the pandemic started and continues to work with a lot of perseverance and commitment.Healso directed that further expansion of facilities at LHMC should continue.

Briefing media after the visit, the Union Health Minister appreciated the vaccination efforts of the Union Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and said that more than 15 Crore doses have been given till date to health care workers, front line workers and people above the age of 45. He said that the new phase of the vaccine drive will start from 1^st of May when people above the age of 18 will begin getting vaccinated.

Appreciating the Co-WIN vaccine registrationportal, the Union Health Minister said that seamless registrations are being done through thedigitally and technologically sound portal. The portal witnessed more than 80 lakh people registering themselves withinjust 3 hours from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm yesterday. The Minister further statedthat vaccination is a critical component of the containment and management strategy of the Government. The fight against the pandemic is ongoing and Government is using all its experience to tackle the situation, he added.

Dr Harsh Vardhan further said that there has been a sudden jump in the number of cases in the past one month but recoveries are also increasing as the same speed and people are getting better. He said that India has one of the lowest mortalityrates in the world but each and every death is tragic and painful, therefore, we need to work towards improving diagnosis and help as many people as possible using teleconsultations to provide right advise to the patients recovering at home and provide necessary medications for a speedy recovery.The National Mortality Rate has been falling and currently stands at 1.11%.

The Union Health Minister asserted that the biggest weapon against COVID-19 is following COVID appropriate behavior. “There is no bigger weapon that wearing a mask, regularly washing hands with soap and maintaining social distancing”. He said that the Prime Minister, right from the beginning of the pandemic, has been exhorting people to follow COVID appropriate behavior as it is essential in the fight against COVID-19.

The Minister appreciated that the testing capacity in the country has been continuously improving and over 17 lakh tests were done yesterday. Cumulatively, till yesterday, 28,44,71,979 tests have been conducted across the nation with 17,68,190 tests done yesterday. The Minister urged people with symptoms to get themselves tested at the earliest and not to panic.

The Union Health Minister lauded Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for his dynamic leadership in these challenging times and for providing the vision to the Minister and the Ministry to continue active planning on a regular basis. The Minister asserted and assured that just as the active cases were reduced to less than 10,000 in February with a graded response from the government, the active cases will again be reduced. He said that no one knew about the virus last year but now government is better informed about how to deal with the menace and is leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to fight the deadly pandemic.

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