Our health systems vulnerable to pandemics: G20 countries on Covid-19

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday emphasised the proactive strategy India is taking to contain the spread of Covid-19 at a meeting of G20 ministers via video-conferencing. The meeting was held to further coordinate efforts in fighting coronavirus pandemic.

The health ministers from the group of 20 major economies discussed weaknesses in health systems that made the world vulnerable to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Saudi G20 secretariat said that the ministers shared their national experiences, addressed necessary actions to improve preparedness and discussed systemic weaknesses exposed by the pandemic.

Taking to Twitter, Vardhan wrote about the strategy India has adopted which includes building exclusive infrastructure for management of coronavirus patients to avoid their intermingling.

During the meeting, Vardhan said that the global health crisis being witnessed globally today has created an opportunity to dive deep into the nature of what connects us all, while simultaneously providing us the collective strength and wisdom to accomplish the unthinkable.

"Stressing upon the traditional Indian doctrine of 'Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam -The world is one family', I said that since the onset of #COVID19 pandemic, India has assumed a leadership role and assisted neighboring countries in a multitude of ways," he wrote in another tweet.

G20 is an international forum for the governments of 19 countries and the European Union (EU). The 19-member countries of G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America and India.