India is Africa’s third biggest pharma supplier

Gandhinagar: Africa today faces problems in the health sector, including shortages of doctors, nurses and a lack of developed health infrastructure, said Union minister of state for finance and corporate affairs, Arjun Ram Meghwal.

Mehgwal, speaking at the discussion on possibilities of Africa-India cooperation in the healthcare sector, said that Africa has improved its overall average expenditure on health from 4.82% of GDP in 1995 to 6.03% in 2013. Meghwal further said that Africa needs a quantum leap in the health sector.

Meghwal said India can help Africa achieve its sustainable development goals by sharing its experiences. He also spoke about how India’s involvement in the health sector in Africa has been steadily growing and cited the fact that India is the third largest pharma supplier to Africa. The Indian government has been improving private sector and government sector cooperation in the health sector, he added. Meghwal stated that the value chain in the area of healthcare needs to be improved. tnn