The present government is not only working relentlessly to ensure provision of adequate healthcare facilities to people across the country but also working hard to ensure a check on the reasons responsible for spread for various communicable and non-communicable diseases. The Government is not only providing all necessary support and guidance to the scientists and experts working in the field but also increasing the strength of several research institutes by further advancing the centers besides setting-up several new in various states across the country. In this regard, as per the Government’s decision to open 22 more branches of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in various states of the country, one such centre is all set to be established in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Pertinent to mention here that with setting up of the facility, necessary assistance would be provided to the Union territory administration in early and timely diagnose of various types of infections and emerging disease besides boosting the UTs capacity and caliber in respect of disease surveillance, outbreak investigations and rapid response to any pandemic outbreak. At a time when the Union Territory is trying hard to recover from the impact of damages caused due to COVID pandemic, the installation of such a high-tech facility within the Union Territory will prove out of great benefit for the people. Moreover, it has been informed that the facility will be set up in Kot Bhalwal area of Jammu with 60 per cent contribution by the Centre and 40 per cent by the UT administration. Further the land for the proposed facility has already been identified and a team of experts from the Centre have recently visited the spot and approved it for construction of the Centre. It is worth mentioning here that NCDC, a Central Government Public Institute under Director General of Health Services, Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has its headquarters at the Union Capital and has at present just 8 branches in various states. As earlier, the samples of several communicable diseases including that of COVID were sent to New Delhi or other branches for testing, but after the establishment of the centre at Jammu, all these complicated testing can be held in J&K as the proposed facility would be equipped with modern and high-tech equipment as per the global standards.
