Upgradation of National Centre for Disease Control approved

New Delhi, Dec 1(ANI): The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved the proposal of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry for the upgradation of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, at an estimated cost of ' 382.41 crores.

The upgradation work is expected to be completed by April 2013.

It envisages improvement of infrastructure, installation of state-of-art equipment, creation of new divisions and upscaling of existing ones.

With the upgraded diagnostic facilities and enhanced public health capabilities, the NCDC will be in a much better position to investigate disease outbreaks and respond adequately to public health emergencies of international concern.

The upgradation of NCDC shall enhance referral diagnostics support services for disease outbreaks investigations, networking of public health laboratories, data management capacity, trained manpower and quality operational research.

The upgraded Institute will also provide public health leadership in disease surveillance, rapid response to epidemics and discovery and characterization of newer pathogens. (ANI)