India aims to attain highest possible level of health: Minister
New Delhi, Sep 3 : Stressing that India has fast-tracked many initiatives aimed at achieving the tenets of universal health coverage, Union Minister J.P. Nadda on Monday said here that the country's objective is to attain the highest possible level of health.
"India has fast-tracked many initiatives aimed at achieving all the core tenets of Universal Health Coverage i.e, strengthening health systems, improving access to free medicines and diagnostics and reducing catastrophic healthcare spending," Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare said at the inauguration of the '71st Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South East Asia Region (SEAR).'
He said that the country "believes in the objective of attainment of the highest possible level of health, where health is a state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity".
"Moving towards this objective, we have adopted the National Health Policy 2017 with the aim to provide affordable healthcare for all," he added.
The session, attended by ministers of health from the SEAR countries, also had participation of Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, Preeti Sudan, Secretary (Health) among other dignitaries.
He described Ayushman Bharat as a programme that rests on "the twin pillars of health and wellness for provision of comprehensive primary healthcare services".
"Under the first pillar of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, we are reaching out to approximately 40 per cent of country's population roughly covering 500 million individuals, who will be provided an insurance cover of 500 thousand Indian rupees to cover secondary and tertiary healthcare."
The Minister said that India has always supported regional and global public health issues.
"India supports the regional and global health agenda and stands ready to work with fellow member states and the international community to achieve our common goal of health for all," he said.
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Sri Lanka repatriates remains of 84 Iranian sailors killed in US torpedo strike
Colombo (PTI): Sri Lanka has repatriated the remains of 84 Iranian sailors who were killed when their frigate was sunk by a US submarine, an official said.
Last week on Wednesday, Sri Lanka said it had recovered 84 bodies of Iranian sailors after the US submarine attack sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena off Galle on the island’s southern coast.
The ship was returning to Iran from Visakhapatnam, India, where it had participated in a naval fleet review exercise.
"Human remains were sent by the Iranian embassy on Friday - all 84", a foreign ministry spokesman said.
They were sent on a chartered Turkish airliner, which departed on Friday, reporters present at the Mattala international airport in the southern district of Hambantota said.
The Chief Magistrate, Sameera Dodangoda, gave the order on March 11 to the Director of the National Hospital at Karapitiya to hand over 84 bodies of the sailors from Iris Dena to the Embassy of Iran.
Following the magistrate's court order, the arrangements were finalised.
The bodies were kept at the Karapitiya hospital in Galle along with 32 survivors who were warded as a result of the US torpedo attack on the ship on March 4.
The Sri Lankan government had earlier said they will be keeping the bodies until the situation would improve so as to repatriate them.
They were being kept under makeshift refrigeration as the hospital’s morgue capacity was found inadequate.
The 32 survivors had been discharged on Sunday and sent to the nearby Sri Lankan airbase at Koggala, Galle.
