National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)
The Institute is under administrative control of the Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India. The Director, an officer of the Public Health sub-cadre of Central Health Service, is the administrative and technical head of the Institute.The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), formerly National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) had its origin as Central Malaria Bureau, established at Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh) in 1909 and following expansion was renamed in 1927 as the Malaria Survey of India. The organization was shifted to Delhi in 1938 and called as the Malaria Institute of India (MII). In view of the drastic reduction achieved in the incidence of malaria under National Malaria Eradication Programme (NMEP), Government of India decided to reorganize and expand the activities of the institute to cover other communicable diseases. Thus in 1963 the erstwhile MII was renamed as National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) to shoulder these additional responsibilities. In year 2009,NICD transforms into National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) with a larger mandate of controlling emerging and re-emerging diseases.
Functions:
It functions asthe nodal agency in the country for disease surveillance facilitating prevention and control of communicable diseases. In coordination with the State Governments, NCDC has the capacity and capability for disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and rapid response to contain and combat outbreaks. Entomological expertise is made available by a separate division dealing with entomology and vector management. NCDC also deals with Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR), an emerging area of concern with far-reaching consequences. NCDC also provides referral diagnostic support, capacity building and technical support to States/UTs in the country.
The mandate of the Institute broadly covers three areas viz. services, trained health manpower development and research.
Services- The Institute takes leading role in undertaking investigations of disease outbreaks all over the country employing epidemiological and diagnostic tools. It also provides referral diagnostic services to individuals, community, medical colleges, research institutions and state health directorates.
- Outbreak investigations & recommendations on control measures for the out-break of various communicable diseases in the States/UTs all over the country
- Referral Diagnostic Services for various communicable diseases of microbial origin specially for those for which diagnostic facilities are ordinarily not available in hospitals and medical colleges:
- Other important services like Quality Control of Biologicals, Storage and supply of reagents, test kits and vaccines on behalf of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) vaccines and other biological materials,Entomological investigations, Evaluation of chemical compounds & Assessment of biochemical parameters to establish clinical diagnosis e.g. Thyroid function tests etc.
Trained Health Manpower Development- It is also a national level institute for training specialized manpower for public health, laboratory sciences and entomological services and is involved in various applied research activities. This institute is also engage in generation and dissemination of knowledge in various areas like Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Laboratories etc. NCDC also conducts two postgraduate public health teaching programmes:
- Master in Public Health (Field Epidemiology) under Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi
- Epidemic Intelligence Services (India) in collaboration with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA.
NCDC has also received approval for starting two new courses i.e. Master in Public Health (Medical Entomology & Vector Management) and Post Graduate Advanced Diploma in Public Health Entomology. It also conducts a number of short courses of duration for 1 week to 3 months. NCDC also recognized as advanced research centre with several scholars pursuing in Ph.D. programmes with Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University. This institute act as nodal centre for various other government organizations for training purposes in Epidemiology, Entomology and Laboratory services.
Research-
Applied integrated research in various aspects of communicable as well as some aspects of non-communicable diseases has been one of the prime functions of the Institute.
- Applied research in the field of bacteriology, virology, mycology, parasitology, immunology, biotechnology, epidemiology, entomology and quality testing of vaccines and other biologicals with an aim of improving diagnostic capabilities of diseases of public health importance and providing laboratory support to the investigation and control of disease out breaks.
- Applied field based research through longitudinal surveillance studies of various epidemic prone diseases
- Laboratory and field oriented research in the transmission dynamics of arthropod borne diseases with the ultimate objective of vector control.
- Evaluation of new formulations of insecticides and biocides and screening of indigenous herbs to evaluate their insecticidal properties.
- In- vitro cultures of organisms, development of reagents, rapid diagnostic tests including molecular techniques using modern equipment and latest technology.
- Research on hormonal disorders.
Technical Divisions:
There are following technical Divisions at the headquarters of the institute which are having several sections and laboratories dealing with different communicable diseases.The activities of each division are supervised by an officer in-charge, supported by medical and non-medical scientists, research officers and other technical and paramedical staff.
- Centre for AIDS and Related Diseases
- Division of Epidemiology
- Centre for Medical Entomology & Vector Management
- Division of Biochemistry and Toxicology
- Division of Malariology & Coordination
- Division of Microbiology
- Division of Statistical Monitoring & Evaluation
- Division of Parasitic Diseases
- Division of Zoonosis
- Centre for Environmental and Occupational Health
- Centre for Non-Communicable Diseases
- Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme
The institute has a 24 x 7 Outbreak Monitoring Cell (OMC) operating round the clock to respond to enquiries related to disease outbreak along-with video-conferencing facility through Strategic Health Operation Centre (SHOC) to interact with the network of disease surveillance centres in the states and districts.
Branches:
Besides the headquarter in Delhi NCDC has 8 branches located at Alwar (Rajasthan), Bengaluru (Karnataka), Kozhikode (Kerala), Coonoor (Tamil Nadu), Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), Patna (Bihar), Rajahmundry (Andhra Pradesh) and Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh). The branches were set-up, over the years, to deal with specific diseases relevant to the concerned States.In the 12th Five Year Plan, a decision was taken to upgrade NCDC head-quarters along with establishment of 30 new branches of NCDC (including the eight existing branches) to cover 29 States & the UT of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.These branches will serve the relevant State of location for better disease surveillance, monitoring and response.
For more information please visit http://www.ncdc.gov.in
