Written by : Arun Ramalingam
March 24, 2023
Bill gates & The Indian Health Minister
Indian Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, recently met with philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, to discuss India's vaccination drive against COVID-19 and digital health initiatives. Gates and his team praised India's management of the pandemic and discussed various schemes including the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana, which aims to provide quality generic medicines at affordable prices to all, and eSanjeevani, a national telemedicine service.
Another key moment of the meeting was discussing India's Pandemic policies. This is an important policy for India given its G20 presidency. India's digital health sector has greatly evolved in the past 3 years, boosted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, India is looking to leverage the power of digital health, most importantly telehealth and telemedicine.
After the great meeting, Mansukh Mandaviya took to Twitter to say 'œWonderful meeting with @BillGates. He appreciated India's COVID-19 Management, Vaccination Drive & Digital Health initiatives like Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. We discussed about India's G20 health priorities, PM Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana, and eSanjeevani'
On his visit, Bill Gates also visited the National Public Health observatory and its dedicated War room which was instituted in the thick of the pandemic. Bill Gates praised the initiatives taken by the observatory. The Health Ministry stated that 'œIt tracked COVID cases and Vaccination speedily and efficiently and currently, each health program and initiative using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other state-of-the-art technologies.' Through this innovation, India has been able to leverage the power of modern technology to fortify itself in the field of health.
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving senior digital health leaders. CHIME includes more than 5,000 members in 56 countries and two US territories and partners with over 150 healthcare IT businesses and professional services firms. CHIME enables its members and business partners to collaborate, exchange ideas, develop professionally and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and care throughout the communities they serve. CHIME's members are chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), chief nursing information officers (CNIOs), chief innovation officers (CIOs), chief digital officers (CDOs), and other senior healthcare leaders. The CHIME India Chapter became the first international chapter outside North America in 2016 and is now a community of over 70+ members in India. For more information, please visit www.chimecentral.org