Page 56 - Covid Special Issue
P. 56

              COVID INDIA SEVA launched to provide solutions to COVID-19-
related queries
Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Science & Technology, and Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan launched an interactive platform, COVID INDIA SEVA, on 21 April 2020. The initiative was aimed at providing real-time solutions to COVID-19-related queries. People can post their questions to the COVID INDIA SEVA twitter handle for getting swift replies from the team of trained experts. This initiative is aimed at enabling transparent e-governance delivery at large scale, especially in crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Harsh Vardhan, in a tweet, said that
through this platform, trained experts
would be able to share authoritative
public health information swiftly at scale, helping to build a direct channel for communication with citizens. Commenting on the launch of the social handle, he said that Twitter has proved to be an essential service for both the government and citizens to interact and exchange information, especially in times of need.
The responses by the experts will be available for everyone and users will not be required to share any personal details or health records on this account.
Website link:
https://twitter.com/drharshvardhan/status/1252529868899708930?s=20
National guidelines for ethics committees reviewing biomedical & health research during COVID-19 pandemic
ICMR has released National Guidelines for Ethics Committees Constituted for Reviewing Biomedical and Health Research during COVID-19 Pandemic. The instructions were developed by its bioethics unit NCDIR, Bengaluru, under COVID-19 National Ethics Committees (CoNEC). The document highlights the critical and facilitatory role that the ethics committees need to play in supporting the ethical conduct of research in India.
Website link:
https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/covid/techdoc/EC_Guidance_COVID19_06052020.pdf
Guidelines released for operational mechanisms for establishing
COVID-19 Biorepositories
In the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, while it was of paramount importance to provide early diagnosis and treatment to all infected individuals, it was also critical to promote research and development for more considerable public health benefit. To develop and validate new
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