Washington DC: Punya Salila Srivastava, Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, today addressed the annual India Leadership Summit 2024, organized by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF). During her speech, she highlighted India’s growing influence as a global leader in the pharmaceutical industry and its crucial role in healthcare advancements worldwide.
Punya underscored India’s position as the third-largest producer of pharmaceuticals and a major supplier of generic medicines, contributing significantly to global healthcare cost savings. “India has the highest number of US FDA-approved pharmaceutical plants outside of the United States, accounting for 25% of all such plants globally. Medicines from Indian companies saved the U.S. healthcare system $219 billion in 2022, and a total of $1.3 trillion between 2013 and 2022,” she noted.
India’s leadership in vaccine production was also emphasized, with Punya pointing out that half of the world’s vaccines are manufactured in India. “Over the last year, of the 8 billion vaccine doses produced globally, 4 billion were manufactured in India, underscoring our role as the ‘pharmacy of the world,'” she added.
To strengthen healthcare, India has reformed its medical education system through the National Medical Commission Act, resulting in increased enrollment and the creation of more medical and nursing colleges. These reforms aim to address disparities in healthcare professional availability and produce a competent workforce to meet both national and global demands.
Punya highlighted the government’s success in reducing out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure (OOPE), which fell by 25 percentage points as a share of Total Health Expenditure between 2013-2014 and 2021-22, reflecting improved healthcare accessibility and cost-effectiveness.
On Indo-US cooperation, Punya emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts in health surveillance, pandemic preparedness, and antimicrobial resistance. She praised the partnership between India’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has led to the training of over 200 Epidemic Intelligence Services officers, with more in progress.
The Secretary also discussed the Bio-5 alliance, a new initiative aimed at strengthening global biopharmaceutical supply chains and reducing dependencies on single-source suppliers. Additionally, she highlighted the recent launch of the U.S.-India Cancer Moonshot Dialogue, which focuses on enhancing biomedical research and cancer prevention, particularly for cervical cancer. This initiative includes partnerships with AIIMS and Tata Memorial Hospital and has evolved into the Quad Cancer Moonshot Initiative.
Punya further announced that India would contribute $7.5 million for cancer testing and diagnostics in the Indo-Pacific region and support radiotherapy and cancer prevention efforts, providing 40 million vaccine doses under the GAVI and Quad programs.
In closing, Punya emphasized the importance of ongoing collaboration between India and the U.S. in health security, research, and capacity building. She called for further public-private partnerships and vaccine initiatives to improve global health outcomes, guided by the philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,’ or “the world is one family,” promoting inclusive growth and shared well-being.