The first meeting of the Health Ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries ended at New Delhi on Saturday with a decision to form a region-wise rapid action system for dealing with emergencies such as cyclones, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, besides outbreak of diseases.

The system will be on the pattern of the emergency response system called "Sanjeevani" proposed for launch in the country on December 25 with the introduction of an emergency mobile hospital that could be airlifted to any part of the country for providing medical treatment.

Announcing the decision, the Union Health Minister, Sushma Swaraj, said the meeting had also decided to establish a region-wise disease surveillance system to keep a continuous watch on the disease profile so that there could be an immediate warning in case of an epidemic outbreak.

It was decided to develop a regional-level digital library containing information about the various traditional systems of medicine practised in the region so that it could be protected from "piracy" for the benefit of the people of the region. India would lead the initiative as it had already developed the necessary expertise. A digital library of the ayurvedic system had already been created and work on similar libraries for unani, siddha, and homeopathy were under progress.

It was decided that even though there was no movement at the global level to review the progress on the recommendations of the Internatio-nal Conference on Population and Development next year at the end of 10 years of the Conference, SAARC would hold such an exercise at the regional level.

The meeting decided to hold such gatherings every year, with the next one slated to be held in Islamabad.