India to offer digital health tech to world as universal public goods: Lav Agarwal
As part of its global outreach, India has willingly offered to make its health technology initiatives available to the global community as universal public goods for its initiative on digital health, additional secretary health Lav Agarwal said in Goa on Sunday. Addressing media persons ahead of the second health working group meeting under G20 India Presidency which will be held between 17-19 April, 2023 in Goa, Agarwal also said that he hoped the initiatives will have lower and middle-income countries that faced inequities when it comes to global health services. Also Read: Amid challenges, G20 expert group kicks off work on reforming MDBs We have taken a principled decision that whatever technology India produces will be given as universal public goods to the whole world, Agarwal said. Technology is a gamechanger. It is cutting across all health delivery today. Through the promotion of technology, lower and middle-income countries can leapfrog in health service delivery in ensuring better quality. We want that whatever initiatives are there for the use of technology in health, they converge, he also said adding that after converging, there should be an institution framework for the global initiative on digital health and if there is any organisation working towards in technology, they can join with this framework and promote its technology across the globe. He cited examples of the Cowin portal, through which he said the state was able to monitor the administration of 2.2 billion doses of the Covid vaccine. Because of which we could ensure that 2.2 billion doses are delivered on the field. If this tool was available to the world, then coordination would be easy, he said. Similarly, he pointed to the E-sanjivani national teleconsultation service which was launched during the Covid period. It is today, Indias biggest telemedicine platform. So, we have made 110 million calls. And an engineer in Jharkhand found that each call saved 24 km of walking distance and $11 was saved per call. So, you can imagine how much we saved with 110 million calls, he said. More than 180 delegates from 19 G20 member countries, 10 invited states and 22 international organisations will be participating in the working group meeting. The working group of the G20 has identified three priority areas including Health Emergencies Prevention, Preparedness and Response (with Focus on One Health and AMR); Strengthening Cooperation in Pharmaceutical Sector with focus on Access and Availability to safe, effective, quality and Affordable Medical Countermeasures (Vaccines, Therapeutics and Diagnostics) and Digital Health Innovations and Solutions to Aid Universal Health Coverage and Improve Healthcare Service Delivery. India assumed the presidency of the G20 on 1 December, 2022. India is currently part of the G20 Troika comprising Indonesia, India and Brazil marking the first time that the troika consists of three developing and emerging economies. As chair of the G20 Presidency, India aims to continue and consolidate health priorities and key takeaways from previous presidencies while highlighting critical areas that require strengthening. India also aims to achieve convergence in discussions across various multilateral fora engaged in health cooperation and work towards integrated action, according to the secretariat.
Monday, April 17, 2023 at 7:03 am