VIJAYAWADA: The British High Commission was all praise for the State government’s three-pronged strategy of tracing, testing, and treatment to control and contain the spread of coronavirus.
In a video conference with Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday, British High Commissioner (In-Charge) Jan Thompson said partnership between UK-based National Health Mission and the State in the implementation of 104 and 108 emergency services would lead to adoption of best practices and technology.She also invited the Chief Minister to Britain after the COVID-19 crisis.
Emphasising on mutual cooperation to combat the pandemic, the British High Commissioner said there is an understanding between the United Kingdom (UK) and India in experiments and in production of vaccines and medicines.
"The State is doing a great job in testing and identifying positive cases as well as reducing the mortality rate. We have an agreement with Andhra Pradesh Meditech Zone for mutual assistance in production of equipment and implements to deal with the pandemic. The UK will also encourage start-up companies," Thompson said.
Thanking her for appreciating the State government’s efforts in its fight against coronavirus, Jagan Mohan Reddy said, "We are conducting COVID-19 tests on a large-scale in the State. On an average, 62,000 tests are being conducted and 90 per cent of the positive cases are being identified in COVID-19 clusters."
"We are trying to keep down the mortality rate by identifying the positive patients, isolating them and giving them timely treatment. Compared to the national average of 2.07 per cent, the mortality rate in AP is just 0.89 per cent. Our focus is on providing quality treatment. Post bifurcation, AP didn’t have a good hospital network. By the time our government took over, we are evamping the public health infrastructure under Nadu-Nedu initiative. We are also planning to set up 16 more medical colleges (teaching hospitals) in the State," the CM explained.
Jagan said the focus was to develop primary health centres, community health centres, area hospitals, district hospitals and teaching hospitals. Stating that there is no alternative to existing with COVID-19 till we get a vaccine, the Chief Minister said, "We understand that the Oxford University is coming out with a vaccine. AP needs Britain’s help and we are ready to cooperate."