New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced rolling out a training programme on management of coronavirus pandemic for healthcare professionals from SAARC countries from April 17.
The training will be imparted by the ministry under its prestigious Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.
At an India-initiated video conference of SAARC leaders on March 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested that healthcare professionals of the SAARC nations could come together to jointly fight the coronavirus pandemic.
India has already proposed setting up of a common electronic platform for all SAARC nations to share expertise and best practices to jointly combat the pandemic.
India is initiating a series of measures to help the countries of the grouping to contain the pandemic in the region.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a grouping comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
All the SAARC member nations are reeling under the adverse social and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The trade officials of the SAARC countries last week broadly agreed to identify new ways to "sustain and expand" the intra-regional trade to offset the huge economic cost of the coronavirus pandemic.
As of Wednesday, there are over 19,000 coronavirus cases in SAARC countries and as many as 565 deaths. India constitutes 60 per cent of infections here and 70 per cent of all deaths, followed by Pakistan (30 per cent of all cases, 16 per cent of all deaths).
(With inputs from PTI)
