NEW DELHI — Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa said the Philippines hopes to learn from India’s public healthcare system as it looks to improve health services back home.

Herbosa made the statement after Indian Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda paid a courtesy call on President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi. Cabinet members, including Herbosa, were present during the meeting.

Nadda, who also chairs the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), shared insights into India’s national healthcare programs, which currently cover around 600 million people for maternal care, hypertension monitoring, and cancer screenings for breast, oral, and cervical cancers.

“Napakaganda. Nakakapag-provide sila,” Herbosa said, highlighting India’s deployment of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), which he likened to barangay health workers in the Philippines.

“It’s a model we can use, and then may telemedicine sila,” he added.

During the meeting, Herbosa also handed over a signed Memorandum of Understanding between the National Institute of Ayurveda Medicine and the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC), aimed at strengthening cooperation in alternative medicine.

Herbosa said he and Nadda also discussed the increasing number of Indian medical students in the Philippines studying liver transplantation procedures conducted by Filipino doctors.

“I’m very happy we have a strategic partnership with India. They are leaders in the world. Kung tayo sikat sa mga nurses, sila sikat ang mga doktor. I remember when I trained in Chicago, ang kasama ko doon—ang pinakamarami—ay mga Indian doctors. Kasama ko sila, lahat matatalino din,” he said.

“Sana makakuha tayo ng maraming lessons from them to improve the health system of the Philippines,” Herbosa added.