India to host 2020 World Conference on Access to Medical Products: Choubey

India will host the 2020 World Conference on Access to Medical Products from September 23 to 25 next year, the Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey said on Thursday.

"India has always been a health-aware country as we have always believed in the 'Panchtatva' (Agni, Jal Vaayu, Prithvi and Aakash) that make up the universal space around us all," Choubey said.

"India has played a leadership role regarding health issues...We are leading global efforts in addressing challenges of the public health sector," he added.

Choubey further said, "I would like to define ACCESS as - Awareness, Civilians, Control (regulatory), Entrepreneurs (manufacturers), Standards, Sustainability. We are committed to host it next year from 23rd to 25th September."

The MoS also stated that India is the leader of the global pharmaceutical industry and generic medicines. "Ayushman Bharat rolled out across the country with its two pillars i.e. Health & Wellness Centres (HWCs) & Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojna (PMJAY), is contributing towards reducing catastrophic out of pocket expenditure and expanding Universal Health Coverage (UHC)," he stated.

He further said that with the National Health Policy (NHP) 2017, India has given priority to preventive, promotive and affordable healthcare.

"I express my gratitude to the team from the Ministry of Health (GOI) and WHO country office for all your hard work in making this conference a success. Each of the deliberation in the conference touched the importance of enhancing technical competence, building smart and safe surveillance system, research and proactive enhancement with institutions not only in our respective countries but regionally and globally as well," Lyonpo Dechen Wangmo, Bhutan's Minister for Health said.

The World Conference on Access to Medical Products (2019) was attended by Zahid Maleque, Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh and various stakeholders like Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), Dr Henk Bekedam, WHO representative to India etc.