Data released by the National Health Mission (NHM) showed that April (lockdown) resulted in over a million fewer outpatient visits, drop in outpatient attendance and dip in child immunisation by 64% (50% drop in BCG vaccinations & a 39% drop in oral polio drops). The number of surgeries also halved compared to January, with 82% drop in elective surgeries.
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While the levels dropped to half in January, senior Health Ministry officials confirmed that the numbers are climbing again and that people are bringing their children in for immunisation. The outpatient visits cater to serious diseases like cancer and acute heart disease. Critical ailment OPDs remained unavailable till June, according to the data.
The data was obtained tracking more than 2,00,000 health facilities across all districts, primarily public centres and some private centres. Nearly 1 million children did not receive their BCG vaccination, which can provide some protection against tuberculosis (TB).
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Record number of tests
India on Sunday for the first time conducted a record number of more than 10.5 lakh COVID tests in a single day, as per the Health Ministry.
“With 10,55,027 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, India has further strengthened the national diagnostic capacity of testing more than 10 lakh samples daily. The cumulative tests have crossed 4.14 crore [4,14,61,636],’’ it said.
