27 centres of NCDC to be set up across country: Health Min

27 centres of the National Centre for Disease Control are proposed to be set up across the country under the 12th Five Year Plan to combat communicable diseases, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said today.
"The Health Ministry proposes to open 27 additional NCDC branches in the country in the 12th Five year plan in addition to strengthening the eight existing NCDC branches," Azad said after laying foundation stone of NCDC's new building complex.
"This will provide the presence of NCDC in each state across the length and breadth of the country for a closer and more effective interface with the state governments, not only to greatly improve our surveillance and public health response, but also to have a database for other national health programmes," he said.

Noting that the NCDC has played a leading role in surveillance and control of major communicable diseases, the Minister said such centres would help meet the challenges of responding to an increasing number of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases effectively.
The Minister expressed hope that the NCDC would play a major role in the service of the people in the days to come.
Talking about AIIMS, Azad said it was "a dream project" of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India.
"Till recently, India had only one AIIMS in the country. But six more AIIMS have been established in different parts of the country recently. This has brought a total revolution in the medical history of India," he said.

NCDC provides technical expertise in the field of disease control activities and has been acting as a centre of excellence for building up trained manpower, providing technical guidance and coordinating nation-wide surveillance for major communicable diseases.