E-Paper
Pune’s metropolitan surveillance unit to be set up by Mar 2024
Pune is part of the central government’s pilot project under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) with the latter funding the campaign
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will set up a metropolitan surveillance unit (MSU) at Baner to understand the nature and causes of diseases in an urban context and identify potential disease outbreaks. The unit will function as a hub of disease surveillance in the city and facilitate real-time reporting of data on outbreak-prone diseases from public and private sectors, said officials.
Pune is part of the central government’s pilot project under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) with the latter funding the campaign. A central team had visited the city on January 19 to finalise the unit location that is expected to be functional by March 2024, said civic officials, adding that similar MSU will come up in Mumbai, Thane and Nagpur in Maharashtra.
As per the officials, the Covid pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of cities to pandemics and the importance of strengthening disease surveillance in urban areas and municipal corporations.
Dr Suryakant Deokar, assistant health officer, PMC, said, “The Baner unit will be set up on 6,000 sq ft.”
Dr Bhagwan Pawar, PMC health officer, said, “The unit will monitor disease trends, detect and respond to outbreaks in the early stages, and raise early warning signals for timely and efficient public health actions.”
Dr Pawar said that help from other departments like veterinary, food safety, water and sanitation, education, urban ICDS and slum development will be taken by the MSU to ensure effective infectious disease surveillance outside the health sector. The staff training will be provided by the central government.
