DR HARSH VARDHAN set to be head of W.H.O’s Executive Board

DELHI born  Dr. Harsh Vardhan,65,  is set to take charge as the chairman of the  Executive Board of the Geneva-based World Health Organization on May 22. India’s incumbent  Union Minister for  Health and Family Welfare and Earth Sciences is expected to be elected as the next Chairman of the 34-member Executive Board of the  W.H. O.  which is represented by 194 nations, all members of the New York-headquartered United Nations  Organization. His election is stated to be a procedural formality. The development comes after WHO’s South-East Asia group had unanimously decided last year that New Delhi would be elected to the Executive Board for three years beginning Friday, May 22, with its nominee being appointed as the Chairman for the first year. India on May 19 was elected by the 73rd World Health Assembly to the Executive Board of the World Health Organisation for a period of three years. Nine other nations have also been elected to the Executive Board. Soft-spoken and publicity-shy, Dr. Harsh Vardhan,  medics by training and a resident of  Delhi,  is at the forefront of India’s battle against COVID-19. He will succeed Dr. Hiroki Nakatani of Japan as the Chairman of the 34-member WHO Executive Board. As India was elected to the Executive Board, the country nominated Dr, Harsh Vardhan as the chairman. The proposal was signed by the 194-nation World Health Assembly. After the end of his one-year tenure as WHO chairman, Dr. Vardhan will remain a member of the Assembly for two more years and will also have a say in shortlisting the next WHO director-general, says The Swarajya.