Diwali lights up UK-India healthcare collaboration

Britain's National Health Service (NHS) owes so much to the Indian diaspora and it is the partnership with India which will help the UK meet the challenges of modernising the country's healthcare system for the future, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said.

As a keynote speaker at India Global Forum's (IGF) annual Diwali celebration in London on Wednesday evening, Streeting drew upon the spirit of the Festival of Lights to express optimism towards the enormous reform agenda ahead for his department.

“If I think about the way in which the NHS has been shaped in the last 76 years, we owe so much to the Indian diaspora here in Britain,” said Streeting.

“It was the generation that helped to build the NHS in 1948 and today we see the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren shaping its future. When we see such enormous challenges in our health and care service, when we look out to a very fragile and unstable world, it is very easy to feel overwhelmed by the challenge and beaten by the darkness. But Diwali is a great time to celebrate the triumph of light over that darkness,” he said.

The Cabinet minister highlighted areas such as the “amazing” primary healthcare and research and innovation that is being designed and delivered in India, which the UK can learn from. He also referenced the India-UK vaccine partnership during the COVID pandemic as an example of how the bilateral partnership can be leveraged further in the healthcare sector.

“The vaccines developed together by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India are saving lives in some of the poorest parts of the world today…The UK-India partnership is absolutely crucial in meeting our challenges by learning from each other. The way in which primary care is being delivered (in India), we can really learn from at a time when people are struggling to get a GP appointment and the front door to the NHS in our communities is broken,” said Streeting.

His Cabinet colleague, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, reiterated the Labour Party government's “absolute commitment” to securing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Bilateral Investment Treaty with India.

“This will build on an incredible trading relationship that is already worth over GBP 39 billion (annually) and supports over 700,000 jobs across our two great countries,” said Kendall.

“The relationship we seek with India goes beyond trade alone. It really is a strategic partnership for economic security, for climate security and for global security,” she said.

Earlier, the ministers interacted with entrepreneurs and senior executives from across sectors over high-level roundtable sessions at the IGF UK-India Future Forum, which covered areas such as technology, pharmaceuticals and green energy.

“As we celebrate the first Diwali of a new Labour government in the UK, it is the perfect time to inject renewed vigour into one of our most impactful relationships,” said IGF Founder Manoj Ladwa.

“India as the largest foreign investor in the UK indicates the depth and the breadth of our relations. It also indicates our ambition, our aspiration and our intent towards more substantive ties,” added Sujit Ghosh, Deputy High Commissioner of India to the UK.