- The SAARC members include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles and Sri Lanka.
- While addressing the workshop, PM proposed five measures to cope with future medical emergencies for the countries in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
- The key measure includes creating a special visa scheme for doctors and nurses so that medical personnel can travel quickly within the region during health emergencies.
Key Points:
–There should be coordination among civil aviation ministries on a regional air ambulance agreement for medical contingencies.
–Creation of regional platform for studies on forecasting future pandemics.
–Creation of a regional network for promoting technology assisted epidemiology.
–He also recalled the creation of COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund to meet the immediate costs of fighting the pandemic and sharing of resources – medicines, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment Kit), and testing equipment.
–Notably, all countries including Pakistan accepted the measures and proposed a discussion on the same to take them forward.
Recent Related News:
i.On November 18, 2020, the Ministerial meeting of the Global Prevention Coalition (GPC) for HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) Prevention 2020 was virtually hosted by UNAIDS (United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) and UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) on behalf of the HIV GPC.
ii.On January 5, 2021, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Harsh Vardhan virtually inaugurated the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) Laboratory at the Translational Health Science & Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad. This is the 1st of its Kind in India & one of the Seven labs of the Global network.
About South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC):
Secretary General– Esala Ruwan Weerakoon (Sri Lanka)
Headquarter– Kathmandu, Nepal
Current Chair– Nepal
Till date India held its chairmanship for 3 times i.e. in 1986-87, 1995-1997, and 2007-2008