New Delhi: India voiced disappointment and alarm on Monday over the World Health Organization’s recent report on all-cause excess mortality estimates, claiming that accurate data released by the statutory body was ignored.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya expressed the disappointment of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare, a representative body of health ministers from all Indian states, which had passed a unanimous resolution regarding the World Health Organization’s (WHO) approach and methodology on its excess mortality report.
In a report released on May 5, the WHO projected that approximately 15 million people were murdered globally in the last two years as a result of the coronavirus or its impact on overburdened health systems, more than double the official death toll of six million. The majority of deaths occurred in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
According to the report, India has 4.7 million Covid deaths, which is ten times the official amount and accounts for nearly a third of all Covid deaths worldwide.
“India would like to express its disappointment over the manner in which the report by WHO on all-cause mortality was prepared and published ignoring the concerns expressed by India and other countries over the methodology and sources of data, setting aside the country specific authentic data from the statutory authority of India,”In his address to the 75th session of the World Health Assembly at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Mr Mandaviya remarked.
Mr Mandaviya emphasised India’s commitment to strengthening the global health security framework,”As highlighted by India’s Prime Minister, there is a need to build a resilient global supply chain to enable equitable access to vaccines and medicines, streamlining WHO’s approval process for vaccines and therapeutics and strengthen WHO to build a more resilient global health security architecture,” he said
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
