The second day of the Health Working Group meeting under G20 India Presidency in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram started Thursday with the delegates, including Union Minister of State for Health D Bharti Pravin Pawar, practising yoga on the beach.
This is the first of the four meetings of health leaders and officials scheduled through the year with the other three expected to take place in Goa (April 17-19); Hyderabad, Telangana (June 4-6) and Gandhinagar, Gujarat (August 17-19).
Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan had said during the inauguration ceremony that Kerala was the land where Ayurveda originated and it continues to be practised in its purest form. He had urged the delegates to experience it, along with the local cuisines — appam, puttu, avial, banana chips, idiyappam – and handicrafts.
With preparedness of public health to face future health emergencies being one of the priority areas for discussion during the meetings, the minister also spoke of Kerala’s strong history of public health – a department for smallpox vaccination established in the 1830s by the Travancore queen Rani Gouri Laxmi Bai.
There will also be a side event on traditional medicinal practices with a summit by the World Health Organisation and AYUSH ministry’s Global Centre for Traditional Medicines during the fourth meeting of the Health Working Group to be attended by health ministers in Gandhinagar.
To help the delegates experience the culture of the state, they were welcomed at the airport by women in traditional white and gold sarees and men in mundu. The cultural event Wednesday evening also saw Bharatnatyam, Mohiniyattam, Kathakali and the martial art form Kalarippayattu.
During the first G20 health track meeting a side event has also been organised on medical value tourism, with the government now promoting India as a healthcare destination with its upcoming ‘Heal in India’ initiative.
At the inaugural address on Wednesday, Dr Bharti Pravin Pawar during her keynote address said, “We know that the Covid-19 pandemic will not be the last one. Our agenda must be to respond together each time the threats emerge.” She spoke of building resilient communities where everyone gets an equal opportunity to protect themselves during the crisis. As health ministry officials said earlier, India will raise the issue of the global south including equitable distribution of “medical counter-measures” like vaccines, diagnostics, and medicines.
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that there was a need to create actionable points from the learning during the pandemic and not go into the “business as usual” approach. He said all discussions, efforts, and funding for health emergency preparedness across international organisations such as the G7, G20, WHO, World Bank, BRICS, AU, EU, and United National General Assembly must be converged.
