Indo-China Bilateral Meet on Healthcare Sector held in Geneva

India-China bilateral meet on healthcare sector in Geneva was held in Geneva on 21 May 2013. The meeting was held on the sidelines of World Health Assembly with the objective of strengthening of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in healthcare sector.

India and China stressed to have a more broad-based cooperation in healthcare sector and suggested to formulate a comprehensive framework after mutual consultations to give further impetus to bilateral ties.
Both the nations were of the opinion to have a closer cooperation in specific areas like maternal and child health, infectious diseases, geriatrics, emerging health challenges, besides collaboration in specific projects. It was also realized that Working Groups should meet more frequently to do the groundwork for more intense and meaningful cooperation.

China was especially enthusiastic to forge collaboration for dealing with the threat posed by leukemia. China also offered to have joint research projects in this area. China can access cost-effective medicines from India for the treatment of leukemia.
India and China being great proponents of traditional medicines can fruitfully collaborate in this area for mutual benefit. In fact, India is one of the largest suppliers of quality generic medicines. China can reduce healthcare costs and out-of pocket expenses by sourcing medicines from India.

India and China can learn a lot from each other considering the fact that both countries have huge populations to look after and attained independence at the same time. They drew attention towards the bilateral agreement of 1994 relating to health sector and emphasized the need to hasten the work in the areas identified for bilateral cooperation.