PERSONA THEME TRENDS WELL-BEING ISSUES RESEARCH NEWSCOPE
PERSONA
Indo-DanishRelationship in Healthcare Peter Taksøe-Jensen is the Danish Ambassador to India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka, Nepal since August 2015. Prior to this, he served as the Ambassador to the United States from 2010–2015. He has worked in various areas of ministry which include the Security Policy Department, Legal Service, and the European Union Law Department and on various government commissions. Taksøe-Jensen obtained his law degree from the University of Copenhagen. Dr. Jasmeet Kaur interviews him on his view point on the current scenario in healthcare.
Q. What are the updates for 2019 regarding Indo-Danish relationship in Healthcare? The relationship between India and Denmark is becoming better each day. In December 2018, the Foreign Ministers of both the countries met in New Delhi and relaunched the Indo-Danish Joint Commission, which provides the framework for all strategic sectors’ cooperation including healthcare. This breakthrough paved the way for the Danish Prime Minister’s visit to India in January this year. Among other things, he participated in Vibrant Gujarat spearheading a Danish business delegation, where he also met with Prime Minister Modi. The purpose of these visits was to strengthen political and economic ties between India and Denmark, because both countries will benefit tremendously from increased interaction and business collaboration.
In this regard, healthcare is a key focus area for 2019. This decision is based on the success of two large projects in 2018; one is focused on non-communicable
diseases and the other on attaining the SDGs within healthcare. We were able to develop concrete grounds for working in a focused manner in this field and assist Danish companies looking to gain a footing in India. Several Danish companies are already established in the Indian market including Novo Nordisk, Widex, Coloplast, Fertin, Falck and many more are expressing their interest. Q. The Danish Health System is incorporating changes for good in recent past with new hospitals and other delivery mechanisms, can you share your view-point on relevance of them to India? The Danish health system is a publicly funded scheme, which covers all Danish citizens. There is a lot Denmark can contribute with to India in terms of know-how and sharing of best practices. Areas where
