India hosts training program on cancer care for BIMSTEC delegates

• The second phase of specialised capacity building program in cancer-care was inaugurated  at Tata Memorial Centre’s Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital & Research Centre in Vishakhapatnam on January 5. 

• This initiative by the Ministry of External Affairs towards capacity building in the region, with Indian expertise in critical areas of healthcare, was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 6th BIMSTEC Summit in April 2025.

• The four-week long training program is focused on the critical domains of cancer care in onco-pathology, onco-nursing, palliative medicine, preventive oncology and radiation oncology. 

• This includes advanced hands-on workshops on cutting-edge diagnostic and therapeutic techniques. 

• A total of 35 cancer care experts from BIMSTEC countries are participating in the program.

• This initiative, in line with India’s Neighborhood First, Act East and MAHASAGAR policies, will strengthen health cooperation further among the BIMSTEC countries.

What is BIMSTEC?

• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) comprises India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.

• It is a regional bloc comprising seven countries lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.

• This sub-regional organisation came into being on June 6, 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration. It constitutes five countries from South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) and two from Southeast Asia (Myanmar and Thailand).

• Initially, the economic bloc was formed with four member states with the acronym BIST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation). Following the inclusion of Myanmar on December 22, 1997 during a special ministerial meeting in Bangkok, the group was renamed BIMSTEC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation).

• With the admission of Nepal and Bhutan at the sixth ministerial meeting in February 2004, the name of the grouping was changed to Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

• The BIMSTEC region is home to about 1.8 billion people, accounting for about 22 per cent of the global population with a combined GDP of $4.5 trillion.

• The BIMSTEC Secretariat is situated in Dhaka.

• India has been pushing for making BIMSTEC a vibrant forum as various regional initiatives under South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) were not moving forward primarily due to non-cooperation from Pakistan.

• For India, BIMSTEC is a natural choice to take forward key foreign policy priorities like ‘Neighbourhood First’ and ‘Act East’ as the bloc enjoys the strength of connecting South and Southeast Asia. 

• Initially, six sectors — trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries — were included for sectoral cooperation. It was later expanded to 14 areas of cooperation.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)