As told to Parliament (December 17, 2022): Over 10,000 cases of measles reported through December 12, says minister

;Maharashtra contributed the maximum to the burden, with 3,075 and 13 deaths
As told to Parliament (December 17, 2022): Over 10,000 cases of measles reported through December 12, says minister
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There has been an upsurge in measles cases in many states in India during November this year, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Bharati Pravin Pawar told the Lok Sabha December 16, 2022.

Some 10,416 cases and 40 deaths were registered through December 12 this year, Pawar said in a written reply to the house. The minister tabled data showing the number of cases and deaths due to measles.

Six states — Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala and Maharashtra — contributed most to the caseload.

Maharashtra contributed the maximum to the burden, with 3,075 cases and 13 reported deaths. The state was followed by Jharkhand (2,683) and Gujarat (1,650).

Specific advisories have been issued to Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand regarding key actions to be taken as a part of the outbreak response, Pawar said.

The Centre has deployed multi-disciplinary teams comprising public health specialists, paediatricians and microbiologists to assess the situation and provide technical support to the states, Pawar added.

Cancer cases

Estimated cancer cases and deaths have surged in the country between 2020 and 2022, according to data cited by Pawar. Some 14,61,427 cases were registered in 2022, stated figures from the National Cancer Registry Programme.

The estimated mortality across the country increased to 808,558 in 2022 from 789,202 in 2021.

Rare diseases

The government launched a National Policy for Rare Diseases (NPRD) in March 2021 to deal with such diseases. Financial support up to Rs 50 lakh is provided to the patients suffering from such diseases, Pawar told the Lok Sabha.

Healthcare in India

India’s doctor-population ratio is 1:834 per thousand population, claimed Pawar.

Some 1,308,009 allopathic doctors are registered with the state medical councils and the National Medical Commission (NMC) as on June 2022, she told Lok Sabha.

Over 3.5 million nursing professionals are registered in the country and the nurse-population ratio is 2.06 nurses per 1000 population, she added.

India’s TB burden

India accounted for 28 per cent of the global TB burden, Pawar told Lok Sabha, citing the World Health Organization’s Global TB Report 2022.

The incidence of TB in India has reduced by 18 per cent — to 210 per lakh population in 2021 from 256 per lakh population in 2015.

At the same time, the estimates of Drug Resistant TB in India have reduced by 20 per cent — to 0.11 million in 2021 from 0.14 million in 2015 — she added.

Lumpy skin disease

Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) impacted some 22 states. Vaccination, treatment and control programmes against LSD are underway in the affected States and Union Territories, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Parshottam Rupala told the Rajya Sabha.

Natural calamities

The central government’s Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying does not have any scheme to provide assistance for the loss of animals during a natural disaster, Rupala told Rajya Sabha.

Natural farming

A committee has been constituted to recommend syllabi and curricula covering natural farming for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in agricultural universities in the country, Narendra Singh Tomar, minister for agriculture and farmers welfare, told the Rajya Sabha.

The Committee has recommended a syllabus that cover aspects related to modern-day agriculture, value addition and agricultural management, he added.

The government has been promoting natural farming through a sub-scheme, Bharatiya Prakritik Krishi Paddhati, under Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana since 2019-2020. So far, nearly 0.41 million hectares have been brought under the scheme, Tomar said in response to another set of questions.

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