New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said World Health Organization (WHO) needs to be reformed and strengthened to "build a more resilient global health security architecture". Addressing the second US-hosted global virtual summit on Covid-19, PM Modi said the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt lives, and supply chains and test the resilience of open societies.
"The Covid pandemic continues to disrupt lives, supply chains and test the resilience of open societies. In India, we adopted a people-centric strategy against the pandemic," PM Modi said. "We have made the highest-ever allocation to our annual healthcare budget. Our vaccination program is the largest in the world," he further said.
"We must build a resilient global supply chain and enable equitable access to vaccines and medicines. WTO rules need to be more flexible. WHO must be reformed and strengthened to build a more resilient global health security architecture," PM said.
"As a responsible member of the global community, India is ready to play a key role in these efforts," PM Modi added.
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The Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other dignitaries also participated in the summit.
"Last month we laid the foundation of WHO Centre for Traditional Medicine in India with an aim to make this age-old knowledge available to the world. It is clear that a coordinated global response is required to combat future health emergencies," he added.
India's People-Centric Approach
On India's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, PM Modi said, "In India, we adopted a people-centric strategy against the pandemic. We have made the highest ever allocation to our annual healthcare budget."
He added, "Our vaccination programme is the largest in the world. We have fully vaccinated almost 90 per cent of the adult population, and more than 50 million children. India manufactures four WHO approved vaccines and has the capacity to produce five billion doses this year."
"We supplied over 200 million doses to 98 countries. India has developed low-cost Covid mitigation technologies for testing, treating and data management. We have offered these capabilities to other countries. India's Genomics Consortium has contributed significantly to the global database on the virus. I am happy to share that we will extend this network to countries in our neighborhood," PM Modi said.
Prime Minister had also participated in the first Global COVID Virtual Summit hosted by President Biden earlier on September 22 last year.