With the increase in number of COVID-19 cases and the Omicron variant, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday described adherence to COVID-19 protocols at all times as ‘dharma’, and urged putting into practice lessons from past experiences in dealing with the pandemic.
The Vice-President was speaking at the 15th Global Health Summit organised by American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), where he highlighted the contribution of India, Indian medical professionals, and said that physicians of Indian origin have gained a formidable reputation in their respective fields.
“We must consider it our dharma to follow COVID protocol at all times and secure ourselves and our community. We should also encourage those who are unvaccinated in our family to get themselves vaccinated at the earliest,” he said, and observed that in the past two years, the pandemic had challenged healthcare systems across the country.
Mr Naidu underscored that the number of COVID cases in the states was surging and that it is imperative to “apply the lessons of the past waves of the pandemic with a sense of urgency”.
He expressed happiness over Indian companies having collaborated with organisations from the United States of America to produce Corbevax and Covovax vaccines. “This experience clearly shows India-US collaboration in healthcare can reap great benefits not only for these countries, but for the entire world,” he said.
Describing India as a ‘pharmacy to the world with path breaking innovations in the pharmaceuticals industry’, Mr Naidu said that Indian contribution to global healthcare is not a new phenomenon. The country has become a medical tourism destination of the world. “Data reveals that nearly 7 lakh foreign tourists came for medical treatment in India in the year 2019 alone,” he said.
Expressing deep appreciation for Indian-origin physicians, he said, “These Indian-origin physicians are a personification of our nation’s cherished civilisational value of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. They are among the most successful ambassadors of India’s value systems and propagators of our mission to ‘share and sare’ for all the people of the world, irrespective of their nationalities. We are indeed proud of them and their services,” even as he said that he is pleased with AAPI’s ‘Adopt a Village’ programme which aims to provide free health screening camps in five Indian States.
