Sweden can benefit from yoga, Ayurveda: Azad

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has offered India’s expertise in yoga and Ayurveda to Sweden.

Many countries, including the U.S., France, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Canada, have already asked for teachers and qualified manpower in this area, Azad said after inaugurating Indo-Swedish Health Week with his Swedish counterpart Maria Larsson in New Delhi on Tuesday. “Sweden may also find Ayurveda and yoga to be quite useful and beneficial in the public health area,” he said.

The minister called upon Sweden to be a partner in developing health infrastructure in India.

Greater investment was expected particularly in the fields of diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. “The potential for investments is huge. We would, however, like the partnerships to be structured in a way that allows transfer of technology leading to sustainable capacity building,” Azad said.

From his side, he offered India’s expertise in the field of high quality and cheap generic drugs.

India has the highest number of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs outside the U.S. and could be a potential exporter to Sweden, Azad pointed out. “Growth of cheap generic drug industry is also of vital interest for world health as all health-related millennium development goals in the developing countries are dependent on it.”

The Indo-Swedish Health Week is being observed from February 1 to 5. The two countries have identified common areas of collaboration, including anti-microbial resistance, pharmaceuticals, medical research, health policy research, alcoholism prevention and adolescent health.

- Asian Tribune -