“India is deeply committed nationally and globally to achieving all public health goals. Together we are working towards providing highest possible standards of health care for our citizens. Universal health coverage is key to the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda and to which India is firmly committed.” This was stated by J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare during his address at the inauguration of ‘2nd World Conference on Access to Medical Products: Achieving the SDGs 2030’, at New Delhi recently.

At the function, J P Nadda released the Position Paper and launched the Information Sharing Platform Gateway for South-East Asia Regulatory Network (SEARN) developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, which will promote regulatory and health collaboration among the countries of the South-East Asia Region.

Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, Minister of State (HFW), Anupriya Patel, Minister of State (HFW), Preeti Sudan, Secretary (Health), Balram Bhargava, Secretary, Dept. of Health & Research (DHR) and DG, ICMR, Dr Mariângela Batista GalvãoSimão, Assistant Director-General for Drug Access, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals, WHO Geneva, Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO SEARO, Dr RK Vats, Additional Secretary, Health Ministry, and Dr.HenkBekedam, WHO Representative to India, also graced the occasion. State Health Ministers and Principal Secretaries from several states in India were also present.

Speaking at the function, Nadda said that the National Health Policy 2017 is dedicated to the highest possible standards of health for the country. “The Government has launched Ayushman Bharat, a National Health Protection Scheme, which envisions health assurance of 5 lakh rupees ($6815) per family per year, will benefit over 50 crore (i.e. 500 million) people, and is the world's biggest health assurance scheme”. He further added that since its launch on 23rd September, 2018, more than 50,000 people have availed of services under the scheme.

The Union Health Minister stated that access to medical products and creating an enabling legal and trade environment for public health are critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Agenda. “These issues require continuous engagement and dialogue.  I believe that the Health Ministry with active partnership of other ministries in Government of India will move forward in leaps and bounds,” he said.  The Union Health Minister further added that India is actively contributing and providing support for the South-East Asia Regulatory Network (SEARN) to guarantee access to high-quality medical products.