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'Our immunity robust... but...': Ex-AIIMS director to HT amid China Covid surge

21 Dec 2022.10:46 AM

Even as the Covid-19 cases are witnessing a sharp rise in China, India might not see a similar situation owing to high rate of natural infection and vaccine coverage, Dr Randeep Guleria, former director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said on Tuesday.

Just days after taking charge as the chairperson of the Institute of Internal Medicine and Respiratory and Sleep Medicine and Director (medical education) at Medanta Hospital, Guleria spoke to the Hindustan Times. Excerpts.

What were the main challenges in tackling the Covid crisis, especially in the initial period?

Looking at how things were unfolding in China and Italy, we felt that being over prepared was better than being underprepared. That approach worked because there was alignment between scientists, clinicians and policy makers. We had an early lockdown, even though many people argued that it was premature, but that helped create awareness and gave us time to prepare. During this period, we did a lot of work to convert, restructure and prepare infrastructure to handle patients. It was a roller-coaster ride but as compared to a lot of western countries, we were able to do a good job.

Do you think the severe spike in China could impact India in the coming months?

When the pandemic struck, we had no immunity against the virus. This led to severe infection in some people. But now, nearly three years into the pandemic, we are in a situation where there has been high natural infection-many people have been infected multiple times-and the coverage of vaccines is also high. Our immunity is robust enough to handle the virus and not let it attack us severely. In the past, we had Alpha, Beta and Delta, all different variants, but over the last one year we have consistently seen sub-lineages that have emerged from Omicron. There hasn't been a new variant that is drastically different. However, we need to be vigilant and have active surveillance because we do not know how the virus will behave. The virus seems to have become a little more stable and milder... but we need to watch out for increase in deaths and hospitalisations (in China).

Did you have any plans for AIIMS that were delayed due to Covid?

We had planned expansion of AIIMS, which has been activated again. AIIMS has become crowded, and we needed to expand in terms of patient care, education and research. We had a plan to go vertical and to expand the hospital in a futuristic manner. We had also brought international experts to make it a world-class facility. That got delayed.

Were you hoping for an extension as AIIMS director?

The tenure of AIIMS directors is only for five years, but my tenure was extended by another six months. I had a hectic five-and-a-half years and I think it was time to do other things.

What would you like to focus on?

I am a clinician at heart, and I love seeing patients and I would continue to do that. The other thing I like is academics. The future of healthcare is new doctors, and we need to train them for the future. Medical field is going through a revolution and we need to train doctors to incorporate these advancements in their practice while maintaining empathy for patients.

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This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt Publisher: Hindustan Times

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