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India in better position, says Sitharaman amid Covid surge in China
New Delhi/Chennai: Many countries, including China, which had obtained the World Health Organisation’s approval for Covid vaccines much earlier than India are seeing resurgence of the pandemic, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday
New Delhi/Chennai: Many countries, including China, which had obtained the World Health Organisation’s approval for Covid vaccines much earlier than India are seeing resurgence of the pandemic, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.
Speaking at the 35th annual convocation of The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University in Chennai, she said the Union government, along with states, executed vaccination at a rapid pace that saved millions of people.
“By the time Omicron variant of Covid attacked us, we were prepared to face it... India could stand up to face the challenge because of the preparedness of a democratically elected government,” she said. “Today when we see a surge yet again in China or somewhere in Japan, Korea, India is in a better position and yesterday we heard that there is a nasal vaccine also available which is now authorised.”
The minister hailed the widespread vaccination drive against Covid-19 and said the progress in inoculation itself was a story worth repeating in every convocation of a medical university as “it is an achievement of the medical fraternity”.
Speaking on the occasion, Sitharaman said medical education in Tamil Nadu should be taught in Tamil language as there was a definite need towards strengthening it.
“I am saying it here in front of Minister of Health in Tamil Nadu (M Subramanian). There is definitely a need for strengthening the medical education,” she said. “We need medical education to be well grounded and I think that can be greatly achieved if medical education can be taught in Tamil (language).”
