British health minister visits India to deepen health partnership

Monday, 14 January 2013 - 8:00am India News Bulletin

The UK minister responsible for public health wass in India between January 14 and 18, along with a group of medical device companies to explore opportunities for increased collaboration on primary healthcare between the two countries.

UK health minister Anna Soubry and India health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad

Image: British High Commission website (Flickr)

British Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health - Anna Soubry and the health sector delegation visited New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai and Bangalore.

It marked the first visit by a UK health minister in more than four years.

In Soubry’s first stop at capital city Delhi on Monday, she met her Indian counterpart Ghulam Nabi Azad and discussed bilateral MoU and forward work-plan for deeper health partnership. She also called on GN Singh, the Drug Controller General of India.

On Tuesday, Soubry will call on Oommen Chandy, Kerala’s chief minister and VS Sivakumar- the State Health minister.

While in Bangalore, the British minister visited Biocon, India’s first India’s biotech company and meet the state health minister.

At her last stop in Chennai, Soubry addressed the audience at the Indo-UK Diabetes Summit on 18 January.

“It is a valuable opportunity to deepen the enduring relationship between our countries and to strengthen our co-operation in response to the growing needs of innovation in the health care sector,” Soubry said.

Soubry will also aim to improve collaborations between UK and India in areas of private and public health care and education providers.