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India on Wednesday said it has introduced two new agenda items, promotion of mental wellness and the BRICS Mission on Healthy Lifestyles, at the 16th BRICS Health Ministerial Meeting, as delegates from member and partner countries visited an exhibition showcasing the country's healthcare innovations, traditional medicine and digital health ecosystem.
Speaking with the media on the sidelines of the exhibition on the second day of the ministerial meeting, Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava said officials from all 11 BRICS member countries and 10 partner nations were deliberating on nine agenda items under the health track. "We have the deliberations that we are holding with secretaries of all the BRICS countries - that is the 11 BRICS group members, as well as the 10 partner countries. And we will be deliberating on the nine agenda items that we have identified for the health track," she said. "There are two new agendas that have been introduced by India: one is on the promotion of mental wellness, and the second one is the BRICS mission on healthy lifestyles. We will be discussing and finalising our action plans," Srivastava added. She said the event also featured yoga sessions to underline the role of yoga in promoting physical and mental well-being, alongside millet-based dishes prepared by the Ministry of Ayush institutions to showcase the climate resilience and nutritional value of millets. She also mentioned that celebrity chef Vikas Chawla was himself present at the event. She said, "We will be discussing and finalizing our action plans...here we also have a chair yoga session, besides a yoga session in the morning, to highlight the strength of yoga, both for health and wellness, as well as mental well-being...the Prime Minister has been highlighting how millets are climate-resilient, how they are good from the climate perspective...to showcase that, we have a lot of millet recipes which have been prepared very scientifically by Ministry of Ayush institutions. We have celebrity chef Vikas Chawla with us." Delegates attending the exhibition praised India's hospitality and its advances in healthcare. Maysoun Al Matrooshi, a delegate from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), told ANI that the visit provided valuable insights into India's healthcare system. "India's welcoming - from the airport to all of the hospitality that it provides - makes us very comfortable when we come here. We started with a yoga experience, which was very relaxing for us. This exhibition to understand how India's health system functions is very beneficial...we heard from the National Health Authority how they integrate digital health in different aspects," she said. Dr Tarek Numair, a delegate from Egypt, said the meeting would culminate in a unified declaration on health by BRICS member states. He told ANI, "It's a really interesting experience because now the BRICS member states are gathering for the health profile through the ministers from each country. Currently, they will be having a unified declaration for the health of the BRICS member states." He also lauded India's experience in traditional and integrative medicine, saying the exhibition highlighted the country's progress in AI-driven healthcare, healthy lifestyles, food safety and herbal medicine. "We started with traditional medicine and integrative medicine among countries, and India has shared a great experience in this regard... This exhibition showed us how India has an advanced approach in this domain. We have been seeing AI technology in health, many effective lifestyle approaches in India, safe food, and also traditional medicine experiences with different herbal products and other things," Numair said. He also called Indian cuisine "one of the most delicious foods" he had ever tasted. (ANI)
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