United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon praised India for achieving many of its Millennium Development Goals (MDG) ahead of schedule.
United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon praised India for achieving many of its Millennium Development Goals (MDG) ahead of schedule even as he sought to rope in the Indian private sector towards achieving the social goals that were set in 2000 and have to be achieved by 2015. Ban, who flew into Mumbai yesterday morning, attended a dinner party hosted by Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani at the latter’s residence, Antilla, last evening in Mumbai where he met the cream of Indian business.
Earlier in the day, he met chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, health minister Suresh Shetty, and other officers from the health department, where he lauded India for cutting down its maternal mortality and infant mortality. “He said that India had already achieved the target set for 2015,” Chavan said.
But there remain some concerns vis-à-vis India, the primary one being its skewed sex ratio. Chavan said he asked the UN secretary general to let India know of any country that has successfully curbed a skewed sex ratio. “Any best practices elsewhere we are willing to adopt,” Chavan added.
The CM said the state officials informed him about some schemes that India has adopted to improve healthcare such as the Janini Suraksha Yojana for poor pregnant women, the Rajiv Gandhi Jivandayi Yojana which provides healthcare to the poor, and Matrutva Anudaan Yojana, aimed at the poor tribal belts.
Ban also praised India for raising its budgetary allocation for health, which now stood at 2.5% of the GDP, and Maharashtra, which had allocated 3.8% of the GSDP for health. “The visit is to recognise the progress that India’s society, government, and private sector have made together in improving maternal and children healthcare,” said Eri Kaneko, associate spokesperson for the secretary general.
A state official also said that seeking the help of the private sector was a part of the UN’s strategy and did not in any way reflect a disappointment with the Indian government’s efforts in ensuring better healthcare for all its citizens.
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