Law Minister Dr M Ampareen Lyngdoh on Wednesday said the state Government awaits the advisory from the Centre as the Union health ministry has issued a directive to all airports and land ports along the borders with Bangladesh and Pakistan, urging heightened vigilance for incoming passengers exhibiting symptoms of Mpox.
Health Minister Dr. M Ampareen Lyngdoh said the Health Department can find out and be prepared on these; however, there is no proper briefing from the Union Health Ministry in this regard.
“M-pox is something that everybody is now discussing; we need to figure out whether or not we have the vaccines, whether or not government of India has given SOPs for the treatment of M box. We will not jump the gun; it is at the moment I’m told located in a certain region or certain area,” The Health Minister said.
“I am yet to get a proper briefing, be awaiting government of India’s briefing; we cannot take protocols and decisions on protocols on our own as a state. These protocols are designed through policy and advisories come from government of India to my knowledge as of now. It is a buzz, people are talking about it, whether or not there are specific SOPs as of today, I’m not sure but we can find out,” Dr Lyngdoh said.
Recently, some Media has reported that in the recent declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) of Mpox as a global public health emergency due to a new, more virulent variant of the virus.
Asked, if there is any advisory coming from Centre? The Minister said, “As of today only in certain areas, in certain countries, there is the vigilance but I’m told that this has not become a wide scale concern but we can find out and we can be prepared, we can be prepared on this. Yes, nothing in the colour. “
“No, there has been no indicator of any outbreak of Mpox, It’s still in that stage where again International Studies are required. We need to get proper advisories. We need to know which is the vulnerable strains, which are the see or it’s very complicated. We will await for that,” she added.