Gates meets Health Secretary

NEW DELHI - Microsoft founder Bill Gates met Union Health Secretary Sujatha Rao in New Delhi on Friday and the duo reportedly discussed health-related issues prevailing in India, like polio and vaccination.

“It’s a great increase in investment in health and it’s great to see. It is going to lead to getting finished with polio. We hope more vaccination and there are some good things taking place,” said Gates after the meeting.

“In this trip, I learnt a lot about how our foundation (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a private charity) can help with that,” he added.

Sujatha Rao, however, did not give any statement on the meeting with Gates, but said that all information would be released after President Pratibha Patil approves the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) Gates signed with the Bihar Government.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Thursday signed a MoC with Bihar government to make medicare services and products availbale and accessible to several districts of the state.

The MoC, which was signed in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, aims at improving and increasing the availability, quality and utilisation of health-care facilities and services.

The foundation will also particularly try to cut down the maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate in Bihar.

With the signing of this MoC, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will extend aid to accelerate statewide improvements in maternal, newborn and child health. (ANI)