DHAKA: Indian Minister for Health & Family Welfare of India Dr. Harsh Vardhan will arrive in Dhaka on Monday on a 5-day visit, to attend in the 32nd meeting of the Ministers of Health of WHO South-East Asia Region to be held on September 9.

He will lead a high-powered delegation consisting of Lov Verma, Secretary (Health) and Nilanjan Sanyal, Secretary, Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Jagdish Prasad, Director General (Health Services) and Dr. Abhimanyu Kumar, Director General, Central Council for Research in Ayurveda.

They will also attend the 67th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia from 10-12 September followed by the health ministers meeting.

During his visit, Dr. Vardhan will call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, of Bangladesh and also hold discussions with his Bangladesh counterpart Mohammed Nasim on furthering bilateral heath sector cooperation.

The two sides will also sign an MoU on Cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy.

This is the first visit of the Health Minister of India to Bangladesh and the third visit to Bangladesh by a member of the Cabinet of the Government which assumed office on May 26, 2014.

As Health Minister of Delhi, his efforts in 1996 to eradicate Polio were a success which won wide spread appreciation. In March 2014, India was declared polio-free by the WHO, as there had been no reported cases for three years.

Dr. Vardhan, himself a medical doctor has significant contributions to India’s health sector.

Dr. Vardhan has won several national and international wards which include among others, two Rotary Internationals, WHO Director General’s Commendation Medal 1998 and ‘Doctor of the last Decade’ by Indian Medical Association, 2002.

BDST: 1228 HRS, SEP 07, 2014