April 7, 2021: Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday said that India’s ancient philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam’ exalted the entire world as one family on the guiding principle behind Vaccine Maitri.

Vaccine Maitri is a humanitarian initiative undertaken by India to provide made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines to other countries around the world. The government had started providing the vaccines to other countries on January 20, 2021.

“We have worked with the international community to respond to this pandemic. The COVID-19 vaccines being made in India are being shared with over 80 countries through our vaccine Maitri initiative, a key step towards addressing inequities in vaccine distribution across the world. India’s ancient philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam’ exalts the entire world as one family,” Vardhan said while addressing the World Health Organisation (WHO) Southeast Asia Regional Office through a video conference on World Health Day.

The Health Minister said that the world increasingly embraces this philosophy and it will expedite our progress towards a fairer and healthier world. “We have always believed in it and our actions reflect the same. As the world increasingly embraces this philosophy, it will expedite our progress towards a fairer and healthier world,” he said.

As this World Health Day marks over a year of battling the pandemic together by the global community, he said that the theme selected for this year, ‘building a fairer and healthier world for everyone, could not have been more appropriate “as it falls on all of us to collectively make sure that our policies, programs, and actions are guided towards a healthier future for all”.

He said that this event organised today is a joint committee of this Ministry and the WHO towards building a resilient health system that ensures ‘Health for All’. “Providing universal health coverage, based upon a strong foundation of primary healthcare services ensures people have access to comprehensive care, ranging from promotive and preventive to treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care,” he added.

He further said that India launched its flagship Ayushman Bharat program on these lines, which has two components. “The first endeavours establishment of 150,000 Health and Wellness Centres to deliver Comprehensive Primary Health Care while also focusing on health promotion, disease prevention, and multi-sectoral actions for social development in which citizens are active participants and the second component is the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana which provides cashless cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care,” Harsh Vardhan said.