Keeping pace with pandemic: Parliament panel advises post-Covid update for NDMA

The government should amend the National Disaster Management Act (NDMA), 2005 to effectively manage Covid-19 pandemic-like situations in future, a parliamentary panel recommended in a report on Friday.

The 31-member parliamentary standing committee, headed by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma, also recommended that the 2019 National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) be revised.

NDMP is a countrywide guideline that helps government agencies deal with any unforeseen national disaster, including chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear attacks.


The panel, in its report tabled in Parliament, said that a dedicated wing of the NDMA could be created "that will specialise in handling and managing Covid-19 pandemic-like situations in future."

The committee said the government should include the lessons learnt and experience gained during the Covid-19 outbreak, including Standard Operating Procedures, lockdowns, and public health management.

According to the report, the government has already constituted a committee to review the NDMA. The government, the report said, has already informed the committee that it is in the process of framing a new Public Health Safety Act to deal with situations such as Covid-19.

The panel observed that the NDMA may be amended to include a clause - 'subject to correction' - during digital data collection, as well as reducing paperwork for extending benefits to intended beneficiaries.

It also said the government could consider administering booster doses in view of the new Omicron Covid-19 variant.

"Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, in coordination with the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization and National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19, should assess the requirement of booster doses in India..," it said.

The committee recommended that the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 "be revisited, updated and amended so that it is fully equipped to respond to the challenges posed by the unanticipated onset of the pandemic in the future."