India’s Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh was elected the regional director of the WHO’s Southeast Asian region on Thursday.
An Indian has regained the post after a gap of 44 years. The post was last occupied by an Indian in 1968.
The present incumbent Dr Samlee Plianbangchang is from Thailand and has served for 10 years now.
Dr Khetrapal Singh was elected here during the ongoing meeting of the health ministers of the Southeast Asian countries, an official release said.
The election of the regional director is an opportunity to strengthen India’s commitment to perform its role in health and development with the WHO as a key partner, Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said.
He said: “Poonam Khetrapal Singh is an acknowledged public health specialist and administrator with vast experience and recognition in the UN system. She would be able to contribute to regional as well as global initiatives.”
Dr Khetrapal Singh has experience at global level in the WHO as executive director sustainable development and healthy environments and member of the cabinet of the director general in Geneva.
At the national level she has been the advisor, international health, in the health ministry.
Prior to joining WHO, Dr Poonam Singh was a career member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) since 1975. In that capacity she held several important portfolios with the Punjab government, including secretary, health, family welfare and medical education. She also worked as a specialist in population, health and nutrition in the World Bank.
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh has a PhD in Public Health and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP), Edinburgh.
The Southeast Asian region of the WHO comprises of 11 countries — India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Timor-Leste and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
SEARO is headed by a Regional Director (RD) who is elected by the members of the SEARO countries. The RD has a term of five years and, though elections are held, customarily, the RD gets a second term.
Persons who have held this post in the past are Dr C Mani (1948-68; India), Dr V T H Gunaratne (1968-81; Sri Lanka), Dr U KoKo (1981-94; Myanmar) and Dr Uton Muchtar Rafei (1994-2004; Indonesia). [IANS]
Source: Medicine net