The government of India will organise four more courses on various aspects of managing the COVID 19 pandemic for professionals

Announcing this on Sunday, the High Commission of India in Dhaka said that these courses are part of the Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) platform aimed at capacity building for professionals engaged in the COVID 19 pandemic management in Bangladesh and other countries.

The courses will be conducted between June 18 to June 26. The first course starting on June 18 will be conducted by the National Centre for Good Governance, Mussoorie. It will focus on the issues of good governance during a pandemic. The other three courses will be conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jodhpur focusing on issues of biomedical waste management, mental healthcare and human resource management.

Earlier, starting from 17 April, six courses on various aspects of COVID 19 management have already been conducted by leading institutions like AIIMS and PGIMER among others. 347 medical professionals from Bangladesh participated in these courses. Another course designed specifically for Bangladesh in Bangla language was conducted by AIIMS, Bhubaneswar on May 12-13 which was attended by 159 medical professionals from the country.

The initiative is part of several other programmes launched by India for combating COVID 19 pandemic in the region in a coordinated manner. Subsequent to the Video conference held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 15 with the SAARC leaders, a COVID 19 emergency fund was set up with an initial contribution of 10 million dollars by India. Under the emergency fund, India has already provided three trenches of medical assistance to Bangladesh consisting of testing kits, surgical masks, Hydroxychloroquine tablets and other items of use during the pandemic.

India reaffirmed its support to Bangladesh in addressing the challenges arising from the spread of COVID-19 again during the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on May 25.