Health Min Harsh Vardhan to Step Up as Head of WHO Executive Board

Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan is set to take over as the chairman of the Executive Board of the World Health Organisation on Friday, 22 May. The board consists of 34 members and India’s health minister will be succeeding Japan’s Dr Hiroki Nakatani.

The proposal to appoint a nominee from India as the new chairman of the WHO Executive Board was reportedly signed by the World Health Assembly consisting of 194 nations on Tuesday, 19 May. Dr Harsh Vardhan’s election is reportedly just a formality and the WHO’s South-East Asia group had decided the same in 2019.

According to the decision, India would be elected to the executive board for a three-year-term beginning May 2020 and India’s nominee would be the Executive Board chairman for the first year. The chairman’s post is held by rotation for one year among the groups.

A senior government official told Hindustan Times, “It is not a full-time assignment… But Dr Harsh Vardhan will be required to chair the executive board’s bi-annual meetings.”

Dr Harsh Vardhan’s appointment comes at a time when the WHO adopted a resolution to launch an independent probe into the coronavirus outbreak. The resolution called for an ‘independent and comprehensive evaluation’ of the international response to the pandemic and also the WHO’s performance.