NEW DELHI : Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday said health was the biggest and most important investment that a nation could make for its people.
Addressing digitally the 73rd session of WHO South East Asia Region as the outgoing chairperson, Dr Harsh Vardhan implored all to invest in health as “all of us who have gathered here today are in a position to influence and drive more investment into healthcare.”
“Our common goal of ‘Health for All’ unites us all, even from thousands of miles away, and this very goal will rive our discourse on regional health today,” he added, wishing to meet them physically and safely in the near future.
South-East Asia Region, with its 11 member states, represents a quarter of the world’s population and strengthening the healthcare systems of member states of the region will help in improving the state of global health achieving both the Triple Billion target and Sustainable Development Goals, an official release here said.
He offered his deepest condolences for the loss of lives across the region due to Covid-19 and also extended heartfelt gratitude to the brave frontline workers of the region whose “collective efforts at the cost of their own safety and well-being, have not only helped save lives but have also shown us resoluteness in caring for all in the face of adversity.”
Representing India in the meet, Dr Harsh Vardhan highlighted the giant strides the country had made under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protect the lives and livelihood of its citizens from the pandemic and “left no stones unturned to contain and mitigate the virus”.
Speaking on India’s commitment to sustain its health goals, he elaborated on the National Health Policy 2017, which aims to provide affordable healthcare for all citizens of India and Ayushman Bharat launched in 2018 which marks a significant milestone on the road towards universal health coverage and is also the world’s largest government-sponsored free healthcare assurance programme.
He reminded the audience that India achieved phenomenal success with its low-cost medicine stores called Jan Aushadhi kendras which provide quality affordable essential medicines to the people in need.
He spoke on the benefits of the National Digital Health Mission, which envisages the creation of a digital health ecosystem to enable Indian citizens to have unique health IDs, digitised health records as well as a registry of doctors and health facilities to ensure seamless delivery of health services across the country.
Dr Harsh Vardhan addressed the gathering first as the Chair of the 72nd session before handing over the charge to the new Chair Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health, Thailand, and then addressed the dignitaries present on behalf of India.
This is the first time the two-day event is being held entirely through virtual platforms owing to the Covid pandemic.
The 73rd session is being hosted by the Thailand Government from Bangkok while the previous session was held in New Delhi.
(AGENCIES)
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