Andhra Pradesh Minister for Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare Satya Kumar Yadav has asked medical colleges to strive for the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), which will provide recognition to the colleges.

After inaugurating the office for the Disease Monitoring and Decision-Making Centre (DMDC), which would be set up soon, at Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences (NTRUHS) in Vijayawada on April 16 (Thursday), Mr. Satya Kumar said the research studies conducted by medical experts from the State should be published in the prestigious weekly medical journals such as The Lancet.

The Health Department, through G.O.Ms.No.47, accorded sanction for the establishment of the DMDC under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP). The centre, coming up at a cost of around ₹6 crore, would help institutionalise predictive disease modelling, advanced epidemiological analytics and AI-enabled decision, the G.O. said.

Speaking on the occasion, Health Secretary Saurabh Gaur emphasised the need for more measures to prevent suicides among students. “There are around 7,000 teaching staff in both private and government medical colleges, and every teacher must monitor the conduct of a student, and provide counselling if necessary,” he said.

Explaining about the DMDC, he said it would help in identifying diseases that people in different districts, mandals and villages were prone to, and also help the department in planning a targeted approach to prevent these. “The DMDC will be linked with the Advanced Warning Advisory for Resilient Ecosystem (AWARE) soon,” he added.

Later, Mr. Satya Kumar handed over cheques for ₹10 lakh each to the principals of Andhra Medical College and Kakinada Medical College for sports development works.