Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Department of Biotechnology started the Unique Methods for Management of Inherited Disorders (UMMID) initiative to address the burden of genetic disorders in the country. One of the components of the UMMID initiative is establishing NIDAN Kendra (National Inherited Disorders Administration Kendras) for providing clinical care broadly encompassing the activities of prenatal testing for genetic disorders, new-born screening for relatively common treatable genetic metabolic disorders, and genetic counselling of pregnant mothers carrying fetuses with high risk of genetic disorders.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in the pilot phase of the UMMID initiative, NIDAN Kendras have been established at five Government hospitals spread in four states of the country. In the next phase of the UMMID initiative, the NIDAN Kendras are being expanded to institutes in different states including Bihar, and these will be in Government Hospitals including AIIMS depending upon capacity.
The Minister also informed that clinician training is one of the components of the UMMID initiative which envisages supporting establishment of training centres for providing training to the clinicians working in Government hospitals in Biochemical Genetics, Cytogenetics, Molecular Genetics, Clinical Genetics and Comprehensive clinical care. At present, six training centres are being supported for providing training to clinicians.