India’s Medical Diplomacy

• India will supply essential drugs, including paracetamol and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), to countries which are badly affected by novel Coronavirus, thus ensuring India’s important role in Global Medical diplomacy.
• India manufactures 70% of the world’s supply of HCQ.India has been sending teams of Indian doctors to Nepal to deal with the testing and treatment of Corona Virus patients. India is also working closely with countries in the middle-east during the pandemic.
• There has been online training organized for health care professionals in South Asia and other neighbouring countries on covid-19 management strategies and related aspects
• high level contacts at regional and multilateral levels – virtual summit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries and a similar meet of the leaders of the G-20 countries.

What is Medical Diplomacy?

• Medical Diplomacy is an emerging field that addresses the dual goals of improving global health and bettering international relations
• Soft power which involves winning hearts and minds of people in countries by exporting medical care, expertise and personnel to help those who need it most.
• concerned not only with the economic effect of poor health on development or of pandemic outbreaks on the global market place but also the gain from the growing global market in health goods and services.
• health as a social value and human right, supporting the United Nations SDGs advocating for access to medicines and primary health care, and calling for high income countries to invest in a broad range of global health initiatives.

Factors driving India’s Medical Diplomacy

• Global presence of Indian pharmaceutical products
• medical and pharmaceutical support to poor African nations, regions of Latin America, Middle- East and the Caribbean.
• tele-medicine initiative like e-ArogyaBharti in African Countries to use its ICT prowess to help these countries expand their expertise in medical field.
• Drug Exports: exports $20bn worth of drugs.
• Generic Medicines: leading producer Indian drugs comprised of 20% by value of global generic drug exports. 
• Traditional Medicine: Ayurveda and Yoga.United Nations designated June 21 as International Yoga Day. India and USA are conducting workshops for revival of traditional medicine.
• Vaccine Manufacturing: Indian manufacturers critical role in driving down prices and improving access to vaccines and HIV/AIDS treatments. India founding member of Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI) alliance to finance and coordinate the development of new vaccines. 
• Training: of doctors and other medical staff for its neighbours through on-line training camps
• Medical tourism

Challenges in Medical Diplomacy

• Foreign regulations: Indian manufacturers have to comply with strict U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines that include regular and rigorous inspections to ensure compliance
• Intellectual property Rights: TRIPS Agreement allows countries substantial flexibility toward protecting public health.  Section 3(d) of Patents Act prohibits evergreening,
• Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API): Despite being a leading supplier of medicines to several countries, India is highly dependent on China for raw materials, 70% of India's imports of APIs
• Lack of support & infrastructure: at 3.5% of the GDP, which includes private investment. 

Way forward

• Overseas Indians Diaspora can also help in promoting India as healthcare destination.
• Individual service providers of medical tourism must locate their niche segments and market their services accordingly. 
• India needs need to invest in API manufacturing so that the buyers of Chinese APIs move towards India.
• The challenges like Covid-19 provide India an opportunity to showcase its humanitarian angle by providing drugs such as HCQ. It can also provide an opportunity for India to promote traditional wellness techniques such as yoga during the lockdowns.