Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and the Canada Institute of Health Research (CIHR) are planning to extend the ongoing agreement for research in non-communicable diseases further. Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has held discussions with Canadian health minister Leona Aglukkaq in this regard.

Both the sides had signed the agreement early last year to support the collaborative research in the areas of mutual interest. Childhood obesity is one of the areas in which experts from both countries desired to work together and the scientists are being supported for a five-year term.

Both the ministers, attending the World Health Assembly in Geneva, also had a detailed discussion on medical systems and medical education of India and Canada. Azad thanked the Health Minister of Canada for providing the necessary assistance to India for capacity building for regulation of vaccines in the Country. The Biological and Genetic Therapies Directorate (BGTD) of Health Canada in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) conducted two training programmes of one week each in 2008-2009 in India on dossier review of vaccines, an official release said here.

Technical teams of Drug Control General of India (DCG(I)) and Central Drug Laboratory (CDL) Kasauli had earlier visited the Biological and Genetic Therapies Directorate of Health Canada to understand their procedure for dossier review and their regulatory systems.

Azad also had a bilateral meeting with Prof. Hatem EL-Gaboly, Minister of Health, Egypt on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly. An MoU between the two Republics in the field of health and medicines was signed in 2008, which involves the issues of bilateral co-operation in medical equipments and pharmaceutical products, information technology in health sector, hospital management and telemedicine, primary healthcare, vaccines, medical personnel including doctors-nurses-midwifery and para-medical staff, traditional medicines, bio-medical health research and disaster management. Both the Ministers decided to have a meeting of their working groups under the MoU, in the Month of June 2010, either in Egypt or in India.

Azad also met Aminath Jameel, Minister of Health, Maldives. They discussed the bilateral health issues between both the countries. The Health Minister of Maldives requested india to explore the possibilities of extending the MoU with Sree Chithira Institute of Medical Sciences, Thiruvananthapuram beyond December 2009 and also made the current employee contracts more attractive. The Health Minister of Maldives also requested to provide more doctors and nurses from India for the 200 bedded Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital constructed by India and handed over to Maldives at a cost of Rs. 40 crore.