Amid vaccine certification issue, National Health Authority CEO calls for deepening India-UK health ties
Sep 23, 2021
New Delhi [India], September 23 : After meeting British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis here, National Health Authority's CEO Dr RS Sharma on Thursday said that he looks forward to deepening ties between the health bodies of the two countries.
The meeting came amid the rising concerns over the new travel rules issued by the UK.
Dr Sharma said that the meeting will be instrumental in resuming socio-economic ties between the two countries.
"Echoing his excellency @AlexWEllis's views, this will be instrumental in resuming socio-economic activities between India and UK. We also look forward to deepening ties between @AyushmanNHA and @NHSX, as we collaborate to build a digital continuum of healthcare services," Dr Sharma said in a tweet.
Earlier, Ellis said the "excellent discussions" were an important step forward in "our joint aim to facilitate travel and fully protect the public health of UK and India".
"Excellent technical discussions with @rssharma3 @AyushmanNHA. Neither side raised technical concerns with each other's certification process. An important step forward in our joint aim to facilitate travel and fully protect public health of UK and India," Ellis tweeted.
The UK issued a revised travel advisory on Wednesday and said that Covishield is qualified as an approved vaccine.
It approved individuals with a full course of the Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea or Taiwan. But the list does not include India. This advisory will be applicable from 4 am (local time) on October 4.
