India is keen to achieve Universal Health Coverage for all during 12th Plan period. Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad stated this at Amsterdam, Netherlands, while addressing the afternoon session of the Conference on Responsible Use of Medicine yesterday. The minister informed the conference that New Delhi has enacted the Clinical Establishment Act, of which the Standard Treatment Guideline is a part.

He said, the Act will ensure that unnecessary drugs are not prescribed. Mr Azad said during the nation-wide polio vaccination campaign, India vaccinated 172 milion children in the country. He said the introduction of bivalent oral polio vaccine in January 2010 was India's innovation based on research conducted in the country. The bivalent polio vaccine helped India to achieve its goal of polio eradication.