The Novo Nordisk Foundation had earlier supported Covid-19 emergency hospitals in India

Inspired by the success of the temporary hospitals project, the Novo Nordisk Foundation of Denmark is preparing a US $100 million project for research-guided training of Indian health workers in cardio-metabolic diseases (CMD).

It will create a sustainable system for training health workers in non-pharma management of early stage diabetes and other such CMD diseases.

The program was discussed when Danish Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke called on Union Minister of State for Science & Technology Jitendra Singh on Monday.

Singh recalled that during the second wave of the Covid pandemic, the Danish Embassy in India facilitated a grant of Danish Kroner 10 million (almost Rs 12 crore) from the Novo Nordisk Foundation to support emergency hospitals in India, said the Ministry of Science & Technology.

Several such hospitals are already functioning - two in Punjab, and one each in Haryana, Nagaland and Assam - and two more are under construction in Meghalaya and Nagaland.

These hospitals were established within a very short period, through Innovative materials and processes, including by startups, MoS Singh pointed out.

Singh said these hospitals were established in the States with support from Indian organisations C-CAMP (Bengaluru) and Invest India and this entire exercise is an example of Foreign-Union-State-Private cooperation, with support from the Indian startup and corporate sector as well.

The Minister said that such partnerships between Indian and Danish non-government and private sectors were a sign of the strong relationship between our two countries.

A delegation led by the Danish Minister of Health also reviewed with their Indian counterparts, the progress of bilateral cooperation particularly in areas like Green Strategic Partnership, said the Ministry of Science & Technology.