President Mr Pranab Mukherjee today called upon all stakeholders in the health sector to make universal healthcare a reality. Mr Mukherjee was speaking on the occasion of the inauguration of the 6th FICCI HEAL 2012, Annual International Conference in New Delhi.

The President stated that a healthcare system should be country-specific and India will need to look at achieving universal health coverage based on its own perspective and requirements. He said India’s medical healthcare system has to be developed to cater to medical requirements of all sections of society, in rural as well as in urban areas.

President Mukherjee also highlighted the issue of affordability of universal healthcare. He said that technology based initiatives including telemedicine could be employed to broaden the reach of healthcare. Ways to encourage cooperation between the public and private sectors in achieving health goals also need to be identified and preventive healthcare emphasized. He also expressed the hope that the Conference would comprehensively look at all these and other inter-related issues for making available accessible, affordable and effective healthcare to people.