Public health experts with knowledge of infections in humans and animals should be appointed in every district, WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan has said.
Speaking at the 'JeevaRaksha' conference organised by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) on Sunday, Dr Soumya called for clear-cut screening and documentation of all infectious diseases at the district level for better management of a pandemic.
Health and medical education minister Dr K Sudhakar and RGUHS vice-chancellor Dr S Sacchidanand were among those present.
Several national and international faculty members were chosen to handle sessions on Covid emergency care in urban and rural areas, besides disaster management.
Over 1,000 people participated in the programme conducted on Zoom, with live stream on YouTube and Facebook bringing 2,000 more to watch the proceedings.
National Health Systems Resource Centre (Ministry of Health) advisor Dr M A Balasubramanya, MSF South Asia Regional Association vice-president Dr Santhosh S S, and chairman of Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee (Karnataka) Dr Sudarshan were the other experts who participated in the conference, a press release stated.