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Countries should come together to fight public health issues: Gautam Bambawale
Former- high commissioner of India to China and ambassador of India to Pakistan stressed that countries across the world should come together to fight public health issues unlike Covid-19
Pune: Former- high commissioner of India to China and ambassador of India to Pakistan Gautam Bambawale, 64, stressed that countries across the world should come together to fight public health issues unlike Covid-19 where nations tried to combat the disease by themselves.
Gautam Bambawale was speaking Wednesday after the launch of the Autoimmune Blistering Disease Foundation (AIBDF) - a one-of-its-kind organisation working to spread awareness about autoimmune blistering diseases in the Indian subcontinent – at Navalmal Firodia Hall, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), Law College road, Pune.
Gautam Bambawale said, “The establishment of the AIBDF is an example of cooperation between Pune, India and Boston, United States of America because doctors from both places have worked together.”
“During the last three years during the Covid-19 pandemic, we had seen the opposite happening. This was a huge public health crisis which was global in nature and yet, different countries shut their doors to other countries and tried to combat the disease by themselves. When the world faced the Covid-19 challenge, the countries did not fight it together.”
“Any global crisis should not be handled in this way; it should be handled in the way we are combating autoimmune blistering diseases, where different countries of the world come together and cooperate to fight such a global challenge,” Gautam Bambawale said.
Dr Abdul Razzaque Ahmed, director, Centre for Blistering Diseases, Boston, and an authority on autoimmune blistering diseases, launched the AIBDF in the presence of actress Mrinal Dev Kulkarni and Gautam Bambawale, who were the guests of honour. Trustees of the AIBDF Ashok Suratwala, Dr Sharad Mutalik, Anirudha Bambawale and advocate Jayant Hemade were also present on the occasion.
Dr Ahmed, who originally hails from Yavatmal, said that there are no deaths due to autoimmune blistering diseases now and that research has helped in the development of medicines over the past 50 years. He also underlined that autoimmune blistering diseases are not contagious.
“The treatment cost in India is slightly on the higher side. The main reason is the cost of medicines. If pharmaceutical companies reduce the prices of medicines, it will help in the treatment of patients. The need of the hour is also that more research takes place in the field and hence, we should encourage young doctors by offering scholarships,” Dr Ahmed said.
Kulkarni said that people are unaware about most diseases as health is a neglected subject. “Today, the AIBDF has been established and I am sure it will help spread awareness about the disease among patients and the common people,” she said.
The AIBDF, a public charitable trust, aims to create awareness about autoimmune blistering diseases, guide patients with autoimmune blistering diseases in terms of early diagnosis and the right treatment. The AIBDF aims to make financial help available to those patients who cannot afford treatment. It aims to create groups for guidance and encourage patients to take up treatment.
