Madhya Pradesh govt to set up COVID-19 pandemic research institute

By April 22, ICUs in Ontario, Canada's most populous province, had 800 COVID-19 patients, with such admissions at the highest point since the pandemic began. (Image: Reuters)

The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to set up a state-level research institute for the COVID-19 pandemic and other diseases here, state medical education minister Vishvas Sarang said on Saturday.

He said the proposal was approved by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday. “A state-level public health institute will come up in Bhopal for the research of the COVID-19 pandemic and other diseases including contagious diseases,” Sarang told reporters.

He said various degree and diploma courses will also be run by this institute and experts of various fields will be posted there. The minister said the state government has also decided to run a "pink" campaign in Madhya Pradesh to detect cancer among women.

“It was seen that women don''t open up on diseases like cancer due to family and social reasons. We have decided to run a pink campaign in urban areas, small towns and panchayat level for the examination of women''s health,” Sarang said, adding health check-up camps will soon be organized under this initiative.

Responding to a query, Sarang said the state government was trying to check the ''black fungus'' or mucormycosis infection at an early stage. “The state government has ensured adequate availability of Amphotericin-B injection in the treatment of mucormycosis," he added.