JOIN USCoronavirus outbreak: Pakistan holds virtual SAARC health meet, India joins
India on Thursday joined a virtual meeting of the ministers and senior health officials of the eight SAARC nations on the Covid-19 crisis, although it was convened by Pakistan.
New Delhi responded to the invitation by Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government in Islamabad and participated in the virtual meeting, even as Pakistan recently boycotted a series of webinars India arranged to train the healthcare professionals of the SAARC nations in managing the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Rajiv Garg, Director General of Health Services, represented the Government of India in the video-conference, which was chaired by Khan’s advisor and de facto Health Minister of Pakistan, Dr Zafar Mirza. Like India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Maldives too were represented by senior health officials. Sri Lankan Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi represented her nation in the virtual meeting. The junior ministers represented Nepal and Afghanistan.
A source in New Delhi said that India decided to join the video-conference convened by Pakistan as it had always been emphasizing on regional cooperation to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
A press release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi underlined that the video-conference convened by Pakistan on Thursday had followed an earlier video conference India hosted on March 26 with senior health professionals of all the South Asian nations.
Dr Garg briefed his counterparts from other SAARC nations about India’s comprehensive response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including its move to augment production of essential materials and medicines and enhancing capabilities in research on drugs and vaccines. He also highlighted the successful use and promising future of new and innovative technology-based solutions developed by India, such as the mobile app ‘Aarogya Setu’, to maximize community outreach and intervention.
Pakistan on April 8 boycotted a video-conference India had organized for the trade officials of all the SAARC nations to discuss ways to minimize the impact of the curbs imposed to contain the pandemic on regional commerce.
Besides, Khan Government in Islamabad also boycotted a week-long online capacity-building programme New Delhi organized from April 17 for the healthcare professionals of the SAARC nations to train them in dealing with the Covid-19 outbreak. It stated that it had decided to stay away as the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu had no role in organizing the two events. The SAARC Secretary-General, Esala Ruwan Weerakoon, participated in the video-conference convened by Pakistan on Thursday.
“It is good to see that Pakistan Government finally realized the merit of regional cooperation in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic,” the source in New Delhi said.
A spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Government on Thursday said that the ministers and senior health officials of the SAARC nations had discussed real-time sharing of information and clinical data, capacity building and training of medical and paramedical staff, the supply of medicines and medical equipment, research coordination and enhancing cooperation with frontline international organizations including the World Health Organization.
They also discussed proposals to fast-track the creation of linkages among medical universities as well as academia and research institutions in the South Asian region.
Pakistan proposed greater coordination among health authorities of SAARC member states in the context of combating the pandemic and suggested activating the SAARC Technical Committee on Health and Population Activities
The SAARC (South Asian Association for convening Regional Cooperation) was in limbo for almost three-and-a-half years, primarily due to tension between New Delhi and Islamabad over continued cross-border export of terror from Pakistan and territories under illegal occupation of Pakistan to India.
New Delhi, however, breathed fresh life into it on March 15 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding a virtual summit of the SAARC leaders to work out a coordinated response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the region.
Though Modi was joined by the leaders of six of the seven other SAARC nations, Khan did not attend it and instead assigned Dr Mirza to represent Pakistan.
Islamabad on April 9 conveyed to Weerakoon, the Secretary-General of the SAARC, that all proceeds of the Covid-19 Emergency Fund must be administered by the secretariat and the modalities of managing it should be finalized through consultations with all the members in accordance with the charter of the organization.
The SAARC Covid-19 Emergency Fund was set up last month after India had initiated it with a voluntary contribution of $ 10 million and was followed by Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan, which contributed altogether $ 8.43 million more. After much dilly-dallying, Pakistan on April 9 pledged $ 3 million to the fund, but with riders attached.
The fund was set up to help any SAARC nation to meet the emergency expenditure to deal with the pandemic in its territory.
“The sentiment of cooperation and solidarity in the region intensified by Prime Minister Modi’s video conference with SAARC leaders on March 15 has led to much progress in the fight against Covid-19 through a series of concrete follow-up measures aimed at easing the suffering of the people in the region,” the MEA said in New Delhi, subtly underscoring that Pakistan had on Thursday just started following up on what had been started by India.
A spokesperson of the MEA said that India had developed an electronic platform – “SAARC COVID19 Information Exchange Platform (COINEX)” – for use by all the SAARC countries. “As the next major step, the platform will be launched for exchange of specialized information and tools on COVID-19 among designated health professionals in the region. (The) COINEX will also offer and facilitate various online training resources and e-learning modules,” he said.