(HT)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the future of a healthy world depends on inclusion, integrated vision and collaboration and added that this year’s theme of World Health Assembly, “One World For Health”, resonates with India’s vision for global health.
Addressing the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, via videoconferencing on Tuesday, PM Modi said, “When I addressed this gathering in 2023, I had spoken about One Earth, One Health. The future of a healthy world depends on inclusion, integrated vision, and collaboration.”
Emphasising that inclusion is at the core of India’s health reforms, Modi highlighted the Ayushman Bharat scheme and said, “We run Ayushman Bharat— the world’s largest health insurance scheme— that covers 580 million people and provides free treatment. This programme was recently extended to cover all Indians above the age of 70 years. We have a network of thousands of health and wellness centres that screen and detect diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and hypertension,” he added.
He highlighted the role of pharmacies selling high-quality generic medicines that bring down the cost of otherwise expensive treatment significantly.
Highlighting the role of technology in improving health outcomes, the PM talked about India’s digital initiatives, “We have a digital platform to track vaccination of pregnant women and children. Millions of people have a unique digital health identity. It is helping us integrate benefits, insurance, records and information. With telemedicine, nobody is too far from a doctor. Our free telemedicine service has enabled over 340 million consultations.”
Reflecting on the positive impact of India’s health initiatives, he noted a significant decline in Out-of-Pocket Expenditure as a percentage of Total Health Expenditure. Simultaneously, he emphasised that Government Health Expenditure has increased considerably.
“The health of the world depends on how well we care for the most vulnerable. The Global South is particularly impacted by health challenges. India’s approach offers replicable, scalable and sustainable models. We would be happy to share our learnings and best practices with the world, especially the Global South,” he added.
At the end, Modi congratulated the World Health Organization on the successful negotiations of the INB (intergovernmental negotiating body) treaty.
