NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, OCT 21
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Thursday hailed “altruistic leadership” and modern medical manpower for keeping the mortality rate due to coronavirus disease (Covid-19) under 1.4% throughout the pandemic when many Western countries reported a staggering 2.5% mortality rate. As India reached the milestone of administering 1 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses, the association said it worked extra hard to mitigate the vaccination hesitancy and was delighted to see the country cross the landmark.
#LargestVaccineDrive #IMAIndiaOrg IMA salute our https://t.co/VXLvoceUGS minister, all state Governments, the modern medicine Doctors and health care workers for their passionate phenomenal efforts and altruistic leadership , enable our India reach the one billion vaccination pic.twitter.com/ynUBqmLQGL
— Prof. Dr. J.A. Jayalal (@jayalal10) October 21, 2021
IMA’s National President J A Jayalal and Honorary Secretary General Dr Jayesh Lele issued a joint statement that also lauded medical workers and other stakeholders who made this historic feat possible.
IMA HQs. Press Release 21.10.2021 pic.twitter.com/RHiuYkr8Bo
— Indian Medical Association (@IMAIndiaOrg) October 21, 2021
A total of 100 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far to eligible beneficiaries, as per the CoWIN portal. India’s COVID vaccination drive was launched on January 16, 2021. From February 2, front-line workers were made eligible for vaccination.
“COVID-19 struck us in an unprecedented way resulting in heartbreaking casualties of both public, nearly 2,000 doctors, and many political leaders too. When many countries including western countries were staggering with more than 2.5 per cent mortality, India with its altruistic leadership, passionately obliged modern medical manpower and synchronized efforts of the Ministry of Health, foster up our health care, and kept the mortality rate under 1.4 per cent throughout the pandemic,” the IMA official release says.
The IMA stressed that the vaccination milestone also gives the hope to “confidently and assuredly” mitigate the impacts of the third Covid wave, saying it is evident that vaccination protects people from severe Covid-19.
While the medical association lauded PM Modi’s “proactive leadership” in “effectively” managing the pandemic, it didn’t fail to highlight the challenges of bed availability, oxygen shortages, drugs, and misinformation campaigns during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic. It said that the association leaders voluntarily took the vaccination on the first day to send a positive message when many had raised concerns about the vaccination safety and efficacy.
