Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said the COVID-19 pandemic has revived academic interest in respiratory disorders and the latest advances in pulmonary medicine.
At a conference, he said pulmonary medicine has emerged as a vital speciality in dealing with a large spectrum of disorders, including morbidity due to air pollution, occupational lung diseases, sleep disorders and obstructive lung disease.
Sophisticated lung interventions and critical care have also gained importance in patients with COVID-related complications, the minister said. “While COVID-19 has had diverse implications on different walks of life across the world, as far as the medical fraternity is concerned one of the conspicuous outcomes is that the pandemic has suddenly revived academic interest in respiratory disorders,” said Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel. Medical professionals working in other specialities like diabetology and oncology are also showing keenness to update themselves about the latest advances in pulmonary medicine, the common masses are also seeking more and more awareness about the subject, he said.
Singh, a noted diabetologist, was delivering the inaugural address at the five-day all-India conference ‘NAPCON’, jointly organised by the National College of Chest Physicians and Indian Chest Society. The medical fraternity is working day and night to arrive at new conclusions about how to control and prevent the the disease, the minister said.
The conference on pulmonary medicine being held in India also assumes significance because the country has successfully rolled out the world’s largest vaccination drive against COVID-19, Singh said according to a Personnel Ministry statement.