iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
The coronavirus pandemic in India has not seen any improvement in spite of continued lockdowns from the month of March. Although it could be noted that without the lockdown in place, the situation in India, given its population could’ve been a hundred times worse.
On Saturday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressed the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) through a virtual meeting and where he credited his countrymen in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic, attributing the “success” to the implementation of the nationwide lockdown in its initial phase.
Expressing his gratitude to frontline doctors, and addressing the Indo-US Relationship during the pandemic Modi told members of the largest ethnic Medical Association in the United States, I want to express my sincere gratitude for being the warriors who are committed to saving the lives of so many during the pandemic.”
“I have closely followed your contributions, sacrificing your life to save that of others. Some have done the ultimate sacrifice of giving up your own lives at the service of others. You will be remembered forever.” Modi said,
This is the first time that an Indian prime minister addressed the annual meeting of the AAPI. Sharing statistics of various countries, PM Modi said India had performed much better in the fight against the coronavirus.
“As against the death rate of 350 individuals per million in the US and over 600 per million in European nations like the UK, Italy and Spain, the rate of fatalities in India is less than 12,” he said.
“Uttar Pradesh has been remarkably successful in fighting against the coronavirus,” PM Modi said. “And the same is the case with several other states as well.” “Rural parts of the country have largely remained untouched from this pandemic,” he added.
India defied the fears of the world’s topmost experts in this regard, according to PM Modi.
He also noted that the pandemic had been used as an opportunity to improve healthcare facilities. “For instance, at the start of the coronavirus, there was only one COVID-19 testing lab. Now there are 1,000, he said.
The prime minister underlined that India, which imported most of its personnel protection equipment (PPE) kits at the start of the pandemic, was now almost self-reliant and in a position to export them.
The Indian Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, echoed the prime minister and said the early lockdown had helped delay the spread of the deadly virus and save lives.
Appreciating the role of the Indian-American doctors during COVID-19, Sandhu said: “You are the real heroes who have risked your lives and have been out to assist others.”
There is widespread recognition of their contributions in the US, he added.
