Ramadoss leaves for Mexico, US trip

Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss left for Mexico City to attend a three-day international conference on AIDS following which he will also visit New York.

Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Wednesday left for Mexico City to attend a three-day international conference on AIDS following which he will also visit New York.

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The health minister is leading a high level delegation to the 17th International AIDS Conference at Mexico City from Aug 6-8, a government press note said here. He is accompanied by MPs Milind Deora and Raman Senthil as well as K. Sujatha Rao, the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) director general.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former US president Bill Clinton and Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation, are among those expected at the conference. The discrimination faced by those infected is one of the event's main themes.

Apart from attending the AIDS conference, Ramadoss will also hold a series of discussions with Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova on bilateral cooperation in the health sector, the statement said.

The health minister will visit New York Aug 8-9. During his visit to New York, he is expected to visit the North Shore University Hospital and hold discussions with medical and health experts of the University.

Ramadoss will be back in India Aug 11. India is home to over 2.5 million HIV/AIDS patients.