PM suggests special visa for doctors, nurses; regional air ambulance agreement

Workshop on “Covid-19 Management: Experience, Good Practices and Way Forward” with 10 neighbouring countries

GN Bureau | February 18, 2021


#Covid-19   #Pandemic   #healthcare   #prime minister   #Narendra Modi   #South Asia   #diplomacy   #aviation  
PM Modi addressing the Workshop on ‘COVID-19 Management: Experience, Good Practices and Way Forward’ with 10 Neighboring Countries, through video conferencing, in New Delhi.
PM Modi addressing the Workshop on ‘COVID-19 Management: Experience, Good Practices and Way Forward’ with 10 Neighboring Countries, through video conferencing, in New Delhi.

The spirit of collaboration among nations in meeting the challenge of Covid-19 has been a valuable take-away from the pandemic, prime minister Narendra Modi said Thursday, as he suggested creating a special visa scheme for doctors and nurses, so that they can travel quickly during health emergencies on the request of the receiving country.

The PM was addressing a workshop on “Covid-19 Management: Experience, Good Practices and Way Forward” with health leaders, experts and officials of 10 neighbouring countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka along with Indian officials and experts.

Asking the countries to raise the ambition, Modi suggested creating a special visa scheme within the region. He also asked whether the civil aviation ministries of the participating nations can coordinate a regional Air Ambulance agreement for medical contingencies. He also suggested that we can create a regional platform for collating, compiling and studying data about the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines among our populations. Furthermore, he asked, can we similarly create a regional network for promoting technology-assisted epidemiology, for preventing future pandemics?

The PM lauded the way the health systems of the countries cooperated during the pandemic and for meeting the challenge in the most densely populated region with coordinated response. He recalled the creation of India’s Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund to meet the immediate costs of fighting the pandemic and sharing of resources – medicines, PPE, and testing equipment. He also noted sharing of experiences and learning from each other’s best practices in testing, infection control and medical waste management. “This spirit of collaboration is a valuable take-away from this 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.”

Beyond Covid-19, the PM suggested sharing of successful public health policies and schemes. He suggested, from India, Ayushman Bharat and Jan Arogya schemes may be useful case-studies for the region. “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 that you have shown during the pandemic has proven that such integration is possible,” he concluded.

Comments

 

Other News

Enhanced MCA21 V3 Portal Paves the Way for Improved Corporate Governance

By Sudhir Chaturvedi, Executive Board Member & President- Markets, LTIMindtree Corporate governance has always been a critical issue for businesses in India. As part of its ongoing digitalization drive, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) recently launched the latest

“I pray to God that such an incident never happens in future”

Life is slowly limping back to normalcy in Bahanaga, a block headquarters town in Odisha’s Balasore district that witnessed one of the deadliest rail disasters of the century. Train operations have resumed as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun the probe into the accident that claimed

Gandhi’s Triumph over the Fear of Death

The Essential U. R. Ananthamurthy Edited by N. Manu Chakravarthy and Chandan Gowda Aleph Books, Rs 899, 312 pages

Bird walks for youngsters to be held across India

Early Bird and the Rainmatter Foundation have announced five bird walks, led by naturalists, across India on June 10. The walks, to be held in Agartala, Dehradun, Mysore, Panjim, and Tirupati early in the morning, are part of the Rainmatter Foundation’s Walking Lightly campaign, being observed throug

India celebrates Environment Day with thrust on Mission LiFE

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India organized the World Environment Day on Monday with a thrust on Mission LiFE. The concept of LiFE, i.e., Lifestyle for Environment was introduced by prime minister Narendra Modi at the World Leaders` Summit in Glasgow at COP26, when

Green banking: an emerging way forward

Green Banking is an initiative taken by the banks to promote environment-friendly practices and reduce carbon footprint of their activities. Green financing (a part of ‘Green Banking’) is a broad term that can refer to a financial investment flowing into sustainable development projects and ini

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter