23 April 2018- The Philippines hosted the Philippines-India 3rd Joint Working Group on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the field of Health and Medicine Meeting in Manila on 19-20 April 2018. The first day of the meeting was held at the Department of Health head office in Manila.
The Philippine delegation was led by Dr. Gerardo V. Bayugo, Undersecretary of Health, Sectoral Management and Coordination Cluster, Department of Health, while the Indian delegation was headed by Joint Secretary Gayatri Mishra of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The second day of the meeting was held in Alabang and was hosted by the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with FDA Director General Ms. Neal Charade Puno heading the Philippine delegation.
The meetings provided opportunity for both countries to discuss how it could strengthen cooperation in the fields of health and medicines. The best practices on health services, collaborative activities on medical tourism, proposed capacity building activities related to traditional and alternative healthcare, collaboration on medical education, procurement of affordable and quality medicines from India, medical devices regulations, Pharmazone initiatives were some of the points discussed.