‘Covid demonstrated need for coordinated global response’

The Covid pandemic has demonstrated that health threats are not confined to national borders and require a coordinated global response, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said.

In this context, India has been supporting by capacity building of healthcare workers, coupled with harnessing digital technology as the way forward, he said in his keynote address at a session on “Heal in India and Heal by India” at the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday.

With the vision of “One Earth-One Health” and to serve the global community, the government has taken initiatives for value-based healthcare supported by health workforce mobility and patient mobility, he said.

The “Heal by India” initiative is designed to increase health workforce mobility from India to different parts of the world to serve the world as per the philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (The World is One Family), while the “Heal in India” initiative seeks to provide integrated and holistic treatment to the world in India and enhance patient mobility for access to world class, affordable and quality healthcare services.

Highlighting India’s G20 Presidency philosophy of “One Earth, One Family, One Future”, the minister said India has prioritised health emergencies, prevention, preparedness and response with focus on “One Health” and Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR); strengthening cooperation within pharmaceutical sector globally to improve access to safe, effective, quality and affordable medical countermeasures, and digital health innovations and solutions to aid universal health coverage and improve healthcare service delivery at grassroots level.

Emphasising on measures taken for strengthening the healthcare ecosystem in India, Mandaviya said, “India achieved an unimaginable pace of Covid vaccination and more than 2.20 billion doses have already been administered in India so far. Millions of vaccines were shared with the world through the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative”.