India is accelerating its fight against Covid-19, say healthcare leaders

New Delhi: The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a new world order, into the picture and our country’s role in this new world order will be determined by how we battle and win the war against the pandemic. Covid-19 has brought everything to a halt, and the only way to save the situation is by working in tandem with government agencies to address the Covid-19 pandemic by: ramping up testing, preventing disruption of vital supply chains during the coronavirus-related lock-down, and ensuring a robust innovation landscape in this time of crisis and beyond.

The pandemic has also highlighted the importance of medical technologies, which play a crucial role in ensuring inclusive healthcare and improving the quality of life. As India ranks third in the number of Covid-19 cases reported globally, it becomes crucial to address and find solutions to close the existing loopholes in the country’s healthcare infrastructure. As India’s testing strategy has developed ever since the outbreak of Covid-19, several Indian and global companies have collaborated with the government to meet to the unprecedented demand as diagnosis has become a crucial step in staying ahead of the virus – facilitating contact tracing and isolation of the infected as we wait for a vaccine to be invented.

Discussing the importance of testing in the current scenario, Dr Shravan Subramanyam, Managing Director – Roche Diagnostics India, said, “India is adopting a testing strategy that has been at par with international standard: from bringing the globally used tests to the country in record time to establishing the disease control measures by creating COVID-19 diagnostic hubs and enabling different types of testing at various stages of disease spread. Laboratory-based immunodiagnostic testing will complement the existing RT-PCR solutions to possibly ascertain COVID-19 related immunity amongst patients and all who want to ‘go back to work’ to bring the health and economic activity back to normalcy.”

Global firms along with their Indian counterparts have been joining hands with the government to fight the virus with quality innovations to ensure a steady supply of medical  technology amidst the global lockdown.

“Abbott is working to support communities worldwide to fight the evolving threat of COVID-19. As a leader in infectious disease testing, Abbott is committed to bringing highly reliable diagnostic tests to support India in its fight against the pandemic. Abbott’s SARS-CoV-2 IgG test can be used for large-scale antibody testing, in line with the ICMR recommendation for the use of IgG tests in India. This test helps in understanding the spread of transmission in high risk populations and provides valuable information to the public health officials that can guide our COVID-19 response moving forward” Narendra Varde, General Manager and Country Head at Abbott’s Diagnostics elaborated.

Speaking on India’s fight against the coronavirus, Meenakshi Nevatia, Managing Director, Stryker India said, “During the Covid-19 crisis in India our mission of better healthcare has come to life in a more meaningful way than ever before.  In India, we are uniquely positioned given the presence of one of our large global R&D facilities established in Gurgaon. In response to the rising PPE requirements from healthcare providers, we worked with our R&D teams to design and manufacture a Face Shield locally. Face shields provide protection to healthcare practitioners and healthcare workers while caring for patients by reducing their exposure to large infectious aerosol particles that are the primary cause of COVID-19 transmission.  Our teams brought the product to life from concept to prototype stage within 48 hours and to final production within three weeks. We stand committed to meeting the critical patient and provider needs and in partnership with the Maharashtra government developed our modular ICU units — 20*10 ft containers with two beds, ventilators and an oxygenation support system.

“The medtech sector is dedicated to accelerating research and innovation in India’s fight against Covid-19 to save and improve patients’ lives. Facing such unprecedented challenges, the global medtech sector must work closely with the government to ensure the health of patients and to promote a robust innovation landscape,” Abby Pratt, Vice President, AdvaMed said.