Success in tackling COVID-19 can be used to achieve goal of eliminating TB by 2025: Harsh Vardhan

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said that the experience of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic can be used to achieve the goal of eliminating tuberculosis (TB) by 2025.

Addressing at the release of the document titled- "Chasing the Virus: A Public Health Response to the COVID 19 Pandemic" here, Vardhan said, "The biggest lesson from our fight against the pandemic is that it gave us a major boost in confidence. The country can fight any adverse situation and challenges coming our way. We have fared better than many countries."

Elaborating on how the success on the front of COVID-19 can be replicated in India's fight against TB, the Union Health Minister said, "Another goal in front of us is to eliminate the TB by 2025. Our efforts of testing, tracing, and treating in COVID-19 can be replicated for the treatment of TB. The experience from the pandemic can be used to achieve the goal of eliminating TB by 2025."

According to the Union Health Ministry, the document is a chronicle of the response to the pandemic for the period January 2020 to November 2020.

Expressing immense pleasure on the comprehensive response of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, he said, "This is a historical moment for all of us. On January 30, we had our first case, and today after 1 year and 2 months, we have chased more than 1.2 crore COVID-19 cases. But these are the cases that we have chased. There may be many other cases that may not be in our record. But the matter of happiness is that out of the 1.2 crore cases, 1.13 crore people have recovered."

He further highlighted how this unprecedented pandemic of global magnitude was converted into an exceptional opportunity.

"The hindrances that were faced in the initial days of the pandemic were resolved. We used to import PPE kits initially. Now, we not only manufacture sufficient kits for India but we are exporting them to other countries. The labs which started from just 1 in January 2020 have now expanded to 2,433 across the country. We are also exporting vaccines to many countries," he said.

The Union Health Minister noted the need to publish this chronicle of the response to the pandemic.

( With inputs from ANI )