INDIA, SOUTH KOREA CONSIDERING HEALTH SECTOR CO-OPERATION

India's Minister of Health and Welfare, Anbumani Ramadoss, is to travel to South Korea in order to strengthen co-operation between the two countries in a number of crucial health areas, including stem cell research. During his visit, Ramadoss is expected to see several biomedical facilities in South Korea and discuss other areas of mutual interest such as the possibility of greater collaboration on surveillance, especially for diseases such as SARS and avian flu.

Bird flu has been responsible for 60 deaths in Asia to date. Many Asian countries do not have adequate supplies of anti-flu treatments, such as Roche's Tamiflu, and so surveillance and vigilance will be crucial in order to contain a potential breakout.

Further, there are likely to be talks concerning a tie-up over the manufacturing and marketing of traditional medicines, which form important parts of the drug industries in the two countries.

The pharmaceutical markets in South Korea and India are of similar size and were worth US$35.3bn and US$33bn in 2004, respectively. It is hoped the co-operation will help both countries develop and modernise their health sectors.