India should push for WHO reforms: Experts

KV Prasad

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 29

As the Covid-19 pandemic plays out across the world, experts have stressed India can utilise the opportunity to rework national health strategy and force a major change in having a pro-active body within the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Advocating a change of guard of WHO Director General as a measure of accountability and working with Africa and other member countries in Asia, Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri said India could work for replacement from Africa and to push for reforms to create an active council instead of the current WHO Executive Board.

Taking part in a webinar “Reimagining the global health agenda: What Role can India Play”organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs, Puri, who served the country’s Deputy Permanent Representative to UN, said the crisis should be utilised to strengthen the existing arrangement to be efficacious.

Renowned cardiologist Devi Prasad Shetty said India should invest and reinforce the public health infrastructure, set up district-level hospitals and ask the Medical Council of India or such body to come up with a study how many doctors, nurses, paramedics and support staff would the country need in three years. Driving his point home, he said as against requirement of some 30 to 40 lakh nurses, India has 15 lakh nurses, and half of anaesthesiologists are above 50 years who may not risk attending a Covid patient.

Stating that the lockdown did help in slowing down the spread, he disfavoured herd immunity policy as it could have had higher cost as in the case of UK. Techno-academic Smita Srinivas said the existing multilateral arrangement has its limitations and no shared agenda with lack of oversight on industrial organisations in health sector.