India-UK Discuss Mobility of Healthcare Professionals at WHO Assembly

India and the UK engaged in a bilateral discussion on healthcare professional mobility during the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva. Key topics included the Memorandum of Understanding, building digital portals for workforce mobility, and enhancing bilateral cooperation in the pharmaceutical sector.

India and the UK on Tuesday discussed critical issues pertaining to the mobility of healthcare professionals to the UK on the sidelines of the 77th World Health Assembly of WHO in Geneva, an official statement said.

The discussions were held during a bilateral meeting between Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra and Lord Markham, Parliament Under Secretary of State, United Kingdom.

''The two countries discussed some critical issues pertaining to the Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries specifically in the area of mobility of healthcare professionals to the UK,'' the statement said.

''India highlighted the ongoing work on building two digital portals -- one to facilitate healthcare workforce mobility to other countries and another to facilitate medical value travel,'' it said.

India also emphasised the need to take bilateral cooperation further in the pharmaceutical sector to overcome challenges faced by the Indian pharma industry in meeting multiple regulatory systems covering the EU and the UK.

The two sides also discussed the critical issues related to international health regulations and intergovernmental negotiating body and exchanged their views on the same, the statement said.