Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurates the Co-WIN Global Conclave

Indigenously Developed Co-WIN platform presented to technology & health experts from 142 countries

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today addressed the Cowin Global Conclave as India presented the indigenously developed Cowin platform to the world at the virtual global meet of representatives from 142 countries. Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare chaired the inaugural session organized to share India’s learnings and experiences with regards to planning, strategizing, and executing the world’s largest vaccination drive-through Co-WIN.

His Excellency Zunaid Ahmed Palak, Hon’ble Minister of State for ICT, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Her Excellency Lyonpo Dechen Wangmo, Hon’ble Health Minister, Government of Bhutan, His Excellency Dr. Ahmed RoblehAbdilleh, Hon’ble Minister of Health, Government of Djibouti, His Excellency Dr. Frank C. Anthony, Hon’ble Minister of Health, Government of Guyana, His Excellency  Dr. Shah Mahir, Hon’ble Minister of State for Health, Government of Maldives, His Excellency Dr. Wahid Majrooh, Hon’ble Minister for Public Health, Government of Afghanistan also participated virtually.

The Global Conclave was jointly organized by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and National Health Authority (NHA) with an objective to extend the Co-WIN platform as a digital public good to the world.

The Prime Minister expressed his delight at the enthusiasm and interest shown by countries from across the globe for the Co-WIN platform: “India has been committed to sharing all our experiences, expertise, and resources with the global community in this battle. Despite all our constraints, we have tried to share as much as possible with the world. And, we remain eager to learn from global practices. Technology is integral to our fight against COVID-19. Luckily, the software is one area in which there are no resource constraints.”

Speaking on the digital backbone provided by Cowin to the Vaccination exercise, he observed that such a digital approach is essential if the post-pandemic world has to return to normalcy in today’s globalized world. Highlighting the importance of cooperation and collaboration in the fight against COVID-19, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi said, “The Indian Civilization considers the whole world as one family. This pandemic has made many people realize the fundamental truth of this philosophy. Guided by the approach of ‘One Earth, One Health’, humanity will certainly overcome this pandemic”

Addressing the Conclave, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that “Co-WIN is the crown jewel of the Digital India initiative”.

He further added“What we have developed is a robust, inclusive and scalable system that can prevent rent-seeking, black marketing, and other malpractices. The Co-WIN platform can be scaled up as per requirements. I am thrilled to see the innovative ways in which the platform can be leveraged by countries across the globe to step up their vaccination drives.”

Dr. Harsh Vardhan added that in a country of more than 1.3 billion people, Cowin ensured the mammoth challenge of ensuring fair and equitable distribution of the vaccines as well as their last-mile delivery removing information asymmetry and aligning stakeholders. He also reminded everyone that apart from ensuring ease of use while offering multilingual access, Cowin enabled continuous tracking of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) to not only respond to help such citizens to overcome Adverse Events but to also generate data for policymaking. He also spoke about how the National Digital Health Mission being spearheaded presently will house all kinds of databases and will have a facility for the patient to fetch his or her records, whenever required.

Informing the advantages of Co-WIN, Dr. RS Sharma, Chairman of Empowered Group on Technology and Data Management to combat COVID-19 & CEO, National Health Authority (NHA) said, “Co-WIN platform is the first of its kind software in the world developed by leading IT experts in India to implement the world’s largest immunization campaign against COVID-19. It has enabled a transparent system to monitor each dose of vaccine supplied to vaccination facilities and recording the fulfillment of demand at a grassroots level.

Co-WIN being a dynamic platform, can accommodate any modifications.”Lauding the achievements of Cowin, he noted, “Since its rollout, the Co-WIN platform has already become the fastest-growing tech platform in the world by getting over 36.50 crregisteredusers through a network of 1,38,427 COVID-19 Vaccination Centres.”

Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) acknowledged the Cowin platform as a technology backbone, enabler, and force-multiplier. He said, “As in the tradition of India, it is an open platform available for sharing as a public good. The platform can be adapted and scaled up for health interventions throughout the globe. We would like to share our experience with partner nations.”

Talking about harmonizing human efforts with digital technologies, Union Health Secretary Shri Rajesh Bhushan noted that “At the start of the pandemic, all the States/UTs established robust protocols for surveillance, prevention, detection, and management of COVID-19. A massive network of more than 10 Lakh frontline healthcare workers was mobilized to undertake micro-level testing and tracing strategies.

We harnessed the power of digital technologies to integrate and scale up these efforts.” He elaborated how other IT initiatives like theology Setu Mobile App for tracing and tracking COVID suspect individuals, Covid India PORTAL at the Ministry for real-time monitoring of cases in India, e-Sanjivani App for telemedicine service has complemented the physical network of healthcare facilities.

Shri Alok Saxena, Additional Secretary, Health, Shri Vikas Sheel, Additional Secretary, Health, Dr. Vipul Aggarwal, Deputy CEO, NHA, Dr. Praveen Gedam, Mission Director, National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) and Additional CEO, National Health Authority (NHA)were present at the event.