AIIMS' contribution is monumental in COVID-19 pandemic: Harsh Vardhan

In these unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the contribution of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is monumental in ensuring smooth delivery of medical services through tele-medicine and tele-consultations, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said on Friday.

While inaugurating the 65th Foundation Day celebrations of AIIMS, the health minister expressed his gratitude for the institution's huge contribution during the COVID pandemic.

"More than five million patients have been infected with coronavirus but the healthcare system of India has shown great efficiency in not only providing diagnostic and management facilities but also keeping the mortality at minimum and recovery at maximum," Dr Vardhan said.

"I appreciate that in the last six months, AIIMS has taken a huge responsibility of providing care to patients suffering from COVID-19, for innovating in areas of research, guiding colleagues across the country, and developing new methods of teaching and communication," he added.

On India's fight against COVID-19, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, "India's continuously rising Recovery Rate and progressively falling Case Fatality Rate have proven the success of the COVID-19 containment strategy followed by all states and UTs. We have successfully ramped up our testing capacity which has touched nearly 15 lakh milestone on Friday with more than 1,800 testing labs spread across the country."

"I have confidence in the scientific developments taking place in the field of treatment and vaccines for COVID-19 and soon India will achieve more success in our fight against COVID-19," he added.

The Union Health Minister also released the Research Section Manual and inaugurated an exhibition themed 'AIIMS in COVID Times' that highlights the contribution of AIIMS, to deal with the public health emergency.

All the departments displayed exhibits on different topics including COVID-19 testing and evaluation, the procedure for collection of samples and laboratory performance, COVID task force, extensive training of manpower, COVID appropriate behaviour, etc.

Minister of State (Health) Ashwini Kumar Choubey praised the medical community for their endless and selfless efforts during COVID times. "Over the years, AIIMS has students from the USA, UK, Australia, Germany, etc and the government is making efforts to spread the services of AIIMS to every nook and corner of the country."

( With inputs from ANI )