{
  "id": 20077957,
  "title": "Colombo hosts first BIMSTEC Health Ministers’ Meeting",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/15/colombo-hosts-first-bimstec-health-ministers-meeting",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-15T00:00:54.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Island Sri Lanka",
    "slug": "the-island-sri-lanka",
    "url": "http://island.lk/colombo-hosts-first-bimstec-health-ministers-meeting/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "The first BIMSTEC Health Ministers’ Meeting took place in Colombo, with member states from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand adopting a joint ministerial statement and a revised public health action plan. The agenda focused on strengthening regional cooperation in healthcare, with India's Union Health Minister, J.P. Nadda, participating in the discussions. The proposed BIMSTEC Digital Health Framework aims to promote telemedicine, interoperable electronic health records, and artificial intelligence in diagnostics and disease modelling. Additionally, the ministers adopted the revised BIMSTEC Plan of Action on Public Health (2026-2030), which outlines a roadmap for cooperation in disease surveillance, pandemic preparedness, digital health, traditional medicine, One Health, and healthcare workforce development. India has committed to hosting the BIMSTEC Centre of Excellence in Traditional Medicine at the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (ITRA) in Jamnagar, Gujarat. The meeting also welcomed India's proposal to host the next meeting of the BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine, with Thailand set to host the second BIMSTEC Health Ministers’ Meeting in 2028.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}