The composition of the delegation was as follows: Radek Vondráček, 1st vice-chairman of PS PČR, Rostislav Vyzula, chairman of the Health Committee, Soňa Marková, vice-chairman of the Health Committee, and members of the Health Committee Marek Benda, Pavel Antonin and Jana Pastuchová. The delegation was accompanied by Ambassador Milan Hovorka and his deputy Roman Masarik.

 

In Delhi, the delegation was welcomed by the Indian State Minister with independent competence for Ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, unani, siddhu and homeopathy (known as Ayush) by Mr.Sripad Jesso Naik and the Indian Minister of Health and Family Care Mr. Jagat Prakašh Nadda.

 

A meeting with over 20 senior officials not only of this ministry, but also of self-governing institutions, including the directors of the Central Council for Research on Ayurvedic Sciences, CCRAS, the Central Council, was held at the Ministry of Ayush ,Central Council for Research on Yoga and Nature (CCRHN), Central Council for Research in Siddha (CCRS), Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM), Central Board of Homeopathy (CCH), Indian Medicine Pharmaceutical Cooperation Limited (IMPCL), National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), the National Institute of Homeopathy (NIH), the National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN), the NIUM, and the National Institute of Siddha (NIS), the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY).

 

During the negotiations, the Indian side has offered support and cooperation when implementing health system among the Czech population. To this end, proposed to prepare a memorandum on either the Government or to establish the Department of Ayush at some of the Czech universities.

 

The main purpose should be to facilitate bilateral co-operation in the implementation of that portion of traditional Indian medicine and auspices that the Czech side should be interested in. The Indian side also proposed organizing a workshop on Ayush in the Czech Republic, which could be attended by health professionals, legislators and other persons interested in the topic and would like to formulate the concept of introducing Ayush in the Czech Republic. At the same time, the Indian side offered a scholarship to Czech students who would be interested in studying Ayush in India. In addition to the meeting itself, an extensive power point presentation of the individual components and their inclusion in the Indian health system took place.

 

At the Department of Health and Family Care (http://mohfw.nic.in/) Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda introduced a delegation to the Indian health care and family care system, unfortunately, there is still no more developed cooperation with the Czech Republic.

 

On this occasion, he pointed out that a Memorandum has recently been signed with Spain on the cooperation of bodies responsible for organ transplantation. Minister Nadda suggested that an institutional framework be created in the form of a working group exploring and further developing the possibilities for future mutual cooperation.

 

During the follow-up discussion, various aspects of healthcare systems, including related issues related to their strategic direction, tools to support the implementation of national policy goals, education, health insurance systems, the relationship between healthcare in our concept and traditional forms of Indian medicine were assessed.

 

Also discussed were possibilities for mutual cooperation, especially in the areas of information sharing and best practices, education, cooperation of higher education institutions and health institutions, studies at medical faculties of Czech universities and research and innovation cooperation.

 

During the meeting, the Czech delegation appreciated the manner in which the Government of India conducted the seventh session of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Conference in November 2016, attended by the Deputy Minister of Health Mr. Tom Phillip as Deputy Head of Delegation.

 

At the same time, it was recalled that cooperation between the two parties takes place in several areas. A number of Indian students are interested in the medical faculty in the Czech Republic. The advantage for them is that the qualification obtained in India is at the level of education. In the Czech Republic there is an important Indian pharmaceutical company and another vaccine manufacturer has recently acquired a vaccine factory in the Czech Republic. As for Ayush, it is becoming more and more popular in the Czech Republic. Many Czechs go to India because of her, and the Czechs are also interested in getting the Indians interested in our spa care system.

 

In Delhi, the delegation also discussed with members of the Indian Parliament, which was represented by the members of both Chambers ( Lok Sabha and  Rajya Sabha), representing the USSR a number of Indian States. Negotiations on the Indian side has been done by an Indian member of parliament in Lok Sabha from New Delhi constituency Minakshi Lekhi, she is the national spokeperson of Bhartiya Janta Party of Prime Minister Narender Modi

 

A number of issues of common interest, both in the area of healthcare and traditional medicine, as well as in the wider context of the relations between the two countries, were discussed during a several-hour meeting related to business lunch. The presence of members of the Indian Parliament representing certain union states (Delhi, Rajasthan, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar) also allowed to discuss specific issues of relations with these states.

 

Within the framework of public diplomacy and familiarization with the support of interpersonal relations through the exchange of tourists and short-term travelers to the Czech Republic, the delegation visited the VFS Global Visa Center, which provides for the Czech Republic and other states reception and initial processing of short-stay visa applications for travel to the Schengen area. The delegation met the system for collecting applications, biometrics, collecting administrative fees and ensuring the protection of personal data.

 

In honor of the delegation, a ceremonial cocktail was held at the Czech embassy in Delhi on Tuesday, 30 May 2017, to which representatives of the ministries concerned, important Indian doctors and scientists, as well as selected representatives of the diplomatic corps, were invited.

 

The delegation visited the Tamil Nadu. Its capital, Chennai, is the center of health in southern India. 45 percent of all foreign patients arriving in India receive medical treatment is being treated in Chennai.

 

Chennai is called India's health capital in India, the medical capital of India. Many competing hospitals in the city attract thousands of patients each year from different parts of India who believe that local treatment is the best in India. The Tamil Nadu has the smallest infant and maternal mortality rate of all Indian states. Pharmaceuticals are produced here by a number of pharmaceutical companies.

 

The delegation visited the city in order to gain practical insights from the functioning of the Apollo Hospital, which has long been ranked as the best in Indian hospitals' ranking.

 

In this logic, the management of the hospital prepared for the delegation a tour of their specialized workplaces and was available for an interactive exchange of views, during which the members of the delegation learned about the many aspects of the Apollo group's activities and the care it provided.

 

The delegation was also interested in the fact that Apollo is the pioneer of telemedicine in South Asia, which has contributed to increased availability of medical care in many places in India. Telemedicine is mostly used in alpine and village areas where modern transmission technology helps identify a patient's diagnosis and determine treatment without the patient having to travel to a multi-million-mile hospital.

 

In Tamil Nadu, the delegation also met with representatives of the political, health, social and business life of the Tamil State.

 

The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Delhi, in cooperation with the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation, set up a Czech films Festival launched by the film Dark World of Director Jan Svěrák, which enjoyed the extraordinary attention of the Indian media. Its opening ceremony was recorded in virtually all local newspapers and in many television stations. During the festival in Thakurova, the film center in Chennai also featured films such as Crocodiles and Babies Summer.

 

The Czech delegation presented the aims of the trip, but also the specific areas of cooperation with the Czech Republic, during the visit of a large-scale press conference after a one-day visit to Tamil- nada. Among other things, it was said that in 2018 (in March), the Czech Republic will return to Chennai again, this time as the partner country of the India Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS).

 

In addition, the delegation moved to the south of India to the state of Kerala, which is the cradle of Ayurveda and has many developed departments treating traditional Indian medicine. Kerala has the highest human development index of all Indian states. There is the highest average life expectancy, the lowest population growth, and the highest literacy rate from all Indian states.

 

In the capital of Kérala Thiruvananthapuram (formerly Trivandrum), a delegation with Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan has a delegation in its portfolio alongside other current agenda, as well as the Interior Ministry.

Chief Minister Vijayan expressed his interest in the Czech Republic to support his idea of establishing a Global Ayurvedic Center that would set global Ayurvedic treatment standards. This part of medicine has evolved over 7,000 years here and has something to do with it. He also reminded that Kerala, many hundreds of years ago, had become a transshipment of spices from different parts of the world, creating today's Kerala gastronomy, which is so different from that in other parts of India.

 

From the Czech side, the possibility of such a partnership was accepted and the interest to return was confirmed as soon as the center was created. At the same time, it was said that the Czech side is interested in the bilateral development of tourism and the use of the spa care system as developed and applied in the Czech Republic. The Prime Minister was also informed that a new Visa Application Center will be opened during the visit in the capital city of Kerala, which will support such exchange of citizens of both countries.

 

Regarding the possibilities of economic cooperation, members of the delegation heard from the Prime Minister that Kerala wants to develop green technologies and environmentally friendly industries. In this logic, renewable resources and information technology have been mentioned as possible areas of cooperation.

 

In talks with the Kerala Minister of Health and Social Justice, Mrs.K. K. Shylaja Teacher, the Czech party has formulated several basic topics for further orientation of possible cooperation.

 

Firstly, it would be wise if it were possible to better understand the formulation of Ayurvedic performance framework in Indian proportions to consider the possibility of using such information to create a similar framework in the Czech Republic. The second theme was to support students from Kerala at medical faculties in the Czech Republic. The third theme was to identify the Kerala institutions that could receive Czech patients and healers, to grant certificates to the appropriate healers and the procedures proposed by them, so that a system of good Ayurvedic care could be established in the Czech Republic in the future. The fourth topic concerned the issue of middle health personnel and the possibility of mutual recognition of professional qualifications with the aim of employing Kerala nurses in the Czech Republic.

 

Negotiations with the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Kerala V. Sasi has made it possible to assess a number of the aforementioned aspects from the point of view of the specifics of Kerala.

 

At Thiruvananthapuram, the delegation visited one of the best Ayurvedic hospitals in India, managed by the Somatheeram group. In the presence of the director and founder of the Baby Mathew Group, she also attended an instructional presentation on what Ayurveda was actually based on..

 

In the capital city of Kerala, a new Visa Application Center was opened in the presence of the delegation on 1 June 2017. The reach of this step was multiplied by media and marketing with a press conference attended by the delegation, during which the members of the delegation informed about the course of their negotiations, and put this information in the wider context of the relations between the Czech Republic and India.

 

The visit made it possible to confirm the interest of the Czech Republic in the development of all-round relations with India, which goes across the political spectrum. This is an important signal to which the parliamentary delegation is the ideal bearer. The visit has contributed to the visibility of the Czech Republic in India, especially in two federal states that have a perspective for the development of relations. At the same time, it was possible to assess more specifically some areas of cooperation, while colleges, student exchanges, Study at Czech universities, cooperation in the field of research and development, as well as the possibility of solving the acute shortage of middle medical staff in the Czech Republic through qualified nurses from India.