LANCET PANEL LISTS 8 SUGGESTIONS FOR CENTRE, STATES TO CHECK SURGE

NEW DELHI: The Lancet Citizens’ Commission has recommended centralised procurement and free distribution of Covid-19 vaccines instead of the current policy of decentralised procurement through state governments, as part of a set of recommendations proposed in response to the alarming resurgence of Covid-19 cases in India.

The eight recommendations made by 21 experts were published in an article in the British medical journal, The Lancet, on Wednesday. “In response to the alarming resurgence of Covid-19 in India, authors drawn from the Commission and its network of fellows have proposed eight urgent recommendations in an article in The Lancet. These recommendations are focused on the immediate steps central and state governments must take to help curtail the loss of life and suffering caused by Covid-19 amid the recent surge in cases,” said the commission in a press statement.

The Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System was launched in December 2020 with the aim of laying out a road map to achieve universal health coverage in India over the coming decade.

Among measures suggested are: district-level organisation and financing of essential health services; transparent national pricing policy and caps on the pricing of all essential health services; and wide dissemination of evidence-based information on the management of Covid-19, especially on what not to do.

The members also recommended the marshalling of all available human resources, including those in the private sector; an emphasis on community engagement and public participation with no restrictions on civil society organisations to access resources; complete transparency and sharing of government data to enable districts to proactively prepare for future cases; and urgent investment in genomic sequencing.