OMAG calls upon WHO and government to end Covid-19-induced restrictions

More than three years after it broke out, a professional umbrella organisation of doctors on Sunday has called upon the World Health Organisation and Indian government to officially announce the end of the Covid-19 pandemic and the withdrawal of all restrictions.

The Organised Medicine Academic Guild (OMAG), the apex federation of 15 professional associations of post-graduate doctors in India, has taken the lead in making the appeal.

Dr Ishwar Gilada, Secretary General, OMAG, along with the body's past Presidents — Dr KM Venkatagiri, President, Indian Society of Anesthesiologists and Dr Sanjay Jain, President, Association of Surgeons of India — said it is high time that the restrictions be removed.

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On 30 January 2023, three years after the WHO had first declared Covid-19 as a public health emergency of international concern, it continues to categorise it in a similar fashion.

“While the virus is still circulating in our populations and the risk of mutations is there, the number of people with Covid-19 who need medical attention has gone down. There is no rationale for inconveniencing people with Covid-19 pandemic related measures when neither its associated disease burden on hospitals nor untimely deaths warrants any of them,” Dr Gilada said.

In a statement, OMAG called upon the WHO to declare that Covid-19 is no longer a public health emergency of international concern, and the Indian government to officially announce the end of the pandemic and withdraw the unnecessary pandemic-related measures in place.

However, it clarified that the call to declare that Covid-19 is no longer a pandemic is not a call to stop being vigilant, or stop doing disease surveillance.

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“Rather OMAG is calling to ensure that proper disease surveillance and reporting systems are in place, vaccine (and booster/ precautionary doses) is within reach of everyone eligible for it across the country and globally, and pandemic preparedness is getting the attention it deserves. Infection prevention should indeed remain the mainstay,” the doctors said.

OMAG also called upon the government to give more attention to surveillance and study of long-Covid, and to update guidelines on its management on an ongoing basis as scientific evidence evolves.

OMAG also puts spotlight on the recent Lancet publication which showed that natural immunity acquired through Covid-19 infection provided more protection against reinfection from SARS-CoV-2 than mRNA-based vaccines.

“While eliminating this virus from human and animal reservoirs is highly unlikely, mitigation of its devastating impact on morbidity and mortality is achievable and should continue to be a prioritized goal,” said Dr Gilada.