Speaking at the second global Covid summit on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the World Health Organisation needs to be reformed and strengthened to “build a more resilient global health security architecture”.

He also called for streamlining of the WHO’s approval process for vaccines and therapeutics in order to keep supply chains stable.

“It is clear that a coordinated global response is required to combat future health emergencies. We must build a resilient global supply chain and ensure equitable access to vaccines and medicine,” he said.

“As a responsible member of the global community, India is ready to play a key role in these efforts,” PM Modi added.

My remarks at the 2nd Global Covid Summit. https://t.co/8nKe1Dkbp8

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi)

PM Modi also said that the World Trade Organisation’s rules – particularly those related to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) – need to be more flexible.

INDIA’S ‘PEOPLE-CENTRIC’ STRATEGY

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.

TRADITIONAL MEDICINE

In his address at the opening session of the Second Global Covid Virtual Summit, PM Modi highlighted the use of traditional medicines in India.

“In India, we extensively used our traditional medicines to supplement our fight against Covid-19 and to boost immunity, saving countless lives. 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,” he said.