PM Modi moots regional cooperation for seamless movement of docs, air ambulance during emergencies

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 18

India on Thursday mooted an ambitious regional cooperation plan for seamless movement of doctors, nurses and air ambulances between countries of SAARC and Indian Ocean Region during medical emergencies noting that greater integration was critical to making the 21st century an Asian century.

Addressing health secretaries of 10 countries, including India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked experts to consider creating a special visa scheme for doctors and nurses so that they can travel quickly within the region during health emergencies, on the request of the receiving country.

“Can our Civil Aviation ministries coordinate a regional Air Ambulance agreement for medical contingencies? Can we create a regional platform for collating, compiling and studying data about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines among our populations? Can we similarly create a regional network for promoting technology-assisted epidemiology, for preventing future pandemics,” PM Modi told the delegates of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and India who will discuss good practices and regional responses to COVID19 in a virtual meeting today.

The workshop today was an extension of a similar effort PM Modi made in March 2020 when he addressed a SAARC gathering and mooted a regional COVID response fund making an initial contribution of USD 10 million.

Today again the PM reiterated the need for cooperation and said, “If the 21st Century is to be the Asian Century, it cannot be without greater integration among the countries of South Asia and the Indian Ocean island countries. The spirit of regional solidarity you have shown during the pandemic has proven that such integration is possible.”

The PM spoke of how many experts voiced special concerns about the densely populated Asian region and the pandemic’s impact on its populations.

“But, from the very beginning we all met this challenge with a coordinated response. In March last year, we were the first to come together for recognizing the threat and committing to fight it together. Many other regions and groups followed our early example. We created the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund to meet the immediate costs of fighting the pandemic, shared our resources and knowledge through collaborative training of health workers, shared experiences and learned from each other’s best practices in testing, infection control and medical waste management. We developed our own best practices based on what worked best for us. Each one of us contributed immensely to this pooling of knowledge and experience,” the PM said urging the delegates to take thee cooperation further.

He said collaboration was a valuable takeaway from the pandemic.

“Through our openness and determination, we have managed to achieve one of the lowest fatality rates in the world. This deserves to be applauded. Today, the hopes of our region and the world are focused on rapid deployment of vaccines. In this too, we must maintain the same cooperative and collaborative spirit,” said the PM.

In the entire group, barring Pakistan which has procured COVID vaccines from China, the others have banked on India.

The PM further suggested that the countries of the region share successful public health policies and schemes, and flagged Ayushman Bharat and Jan Aarogya plans as success stories from India.

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