GANGTOK, Nov 28 - A State steering committee has been formed in Sikkim to ensure readiness for introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine. The State Chief Secretary is the chairman of the panel which will seek to develop a coordination mechanism at the State and district level for assessment of various activities like cold chain availability and its augmentation, preparation of database of Health workers, etc.
The first meeting of the State steering committee was held at the Tashiling Secretariat here under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary SC Gupta on Friday. The meeting was conducted by the Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of Sikkim. It was attended by heads of departments and senior officers of the State Health Department. The meeting sought to sensitize the State steering committee on the new developments regarding the vaccine, and to discuss various aspects of planning and implementation of the vaccine programme in the State, with coordinated efforts from all concerned.
A detailed presentation was made by Dr T Yamphel, Principal Director-cum-MD, NHM.
Chief Secretary Gupta, in his address, said that the COVID-19 vaccination programme has to be done exactly in the same way as all vaccination programmes in the past which were carried out successfully by the State Government. The first task will be to select the groups to be vaccinated in the first phase and the logistical requirements thereof, he said. He called for coordinated efforts from all the designated departments at every stage.
The meeting also discussed the new guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Home. The district collectors gave a briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the districts, and their response to the new guidelines issued by the Government of India. The need to increase institutional testing and introduction of mobile testing facilities was also discussed. The logistical preparedness of the State for the proposed vaccination programme was also discussed in detail.
Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, VB Pathak, Principal Secretary, Health, K Sreenivasulu, Principal Secretary, Home, R Telang, Principal Secretary, RDD, CS Rao, and Secretaries of various other departments were present in the meeting. The meeting was joined through video conferencing by the district collectors, Army officers, paramilitary forces and officers of the WHO.
