To strengthen preparedness and response to public health emergencies and disasters, Karnataka’s Health Department launched a state-of-the-art Health Emergency Operations Centre (HEOC) at Arogya Soudha in Bengaluru on May 7.
Established under the Union Government’s Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), the HEOC will function as a centralised command and control facility for surveillance, coordination, resource deployment and decision-making during health crises.
The initiative follows lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed gaps in coordination, real-time surveillance and rapid response systems. Karnataka is among the first major States in India to operationalise such an advanced public health facility.
Central command unit
Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, who inaugurated the centre, said the HEOC would serve as a central command unit to ensure timely decision-making, efficient utilisation of resources, and dissemination of accurate information during emergencies.
