High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das today handed over emergency medical supplies consisting of 1 lakh Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) tablets and 50 thousand sterile surgical gloves to Bangladesh.

Announcing this in a press release today, the High Commission of India said that the second tranche of assistance came from the Covid 19 emergency fund which was created at the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 15 March video conferencing with the leaders of the SAARC countries.

Health Minister of Bangladesh Zahid Maleque appreciated the continued support of India in providing medical supplies, protective gear and capacity building in the fight against Covid 19.

Earlier, India had provided 30 thousand surgical masks and 15 thousand head-covers to Bangladesh on 25 March in the first tranche of assistance under Covid 19 emergency fund.

Following up on the video conference of Prime Minister Narendra Modi held on March 15 with SAARC leaders, two separate video conferences were held between health experts and trade representatives of

SAARC nations to discuss trade facilitation and exchange of best practices on 26 March and 08 April.

Taking forward India’s commitment to a collaborative approach to fight Covid-19 in the SAARC region, another training module in the form of webinars conducted by AIIMS Raipur for health professionals of SAARC nations was held between 17-21 April.

It discussed Covid 19 management strategies, capacity building and knowledge sharing on best practices. A similar programme is scheduled to be held from 27 April to 6 May under the government of India's ITEC initiative.

The Covid-19 Emergency Fund was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his video conference with SAARC leaders on March 15. It was setup with an initial contribution of 10 million US dollars from India.