Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of foreign Affairs Rashid Meredov informed at the Government meeting today about the developed Plan to ensure Turkmenistan's readiness to counter the coronavirus pandemic and take rapid response measures.

This Plan was considered at the next meeting of the Emergency Commission to combat the spread of diseases, held on May 10. Its main goals are to prevent the penetration of the above-mentioned dangerous infection into Turkmenistan, to counteract its spread, and to maintain the pace of socio-economic development of the country at an appropriate level during the pandemic.

As you know, in March this year, the UN Secretary-General launched an initiative to consolidate common efforts in the fight against a particularly dangerous disease. In this direction, the UN General Assembly has also adopted a number of important documents. These include two special Resolutions and three Plans for international cooperation and solidarity in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this regard, the relevant ministries and agencies, together with the Office of the UN Permanent coordinator in our country, as well as with the offices of UNDP, UNICEF, UNF, WHO, the World Bank, the International organization for migration and other structures, held meetings at the level of managers and specialists in April-May. Based on their results, a draft Plan has been developed to ensure Turkmenistan's readiness to counteract an acute infectious disease and take rapid response measures.

According to the Plan, which also defines the procedure and mechanisms for interaction with WHO and other partners, appropriate measures are planned to be implemented in a number of areas. These include ensuring a high level and modernizing the material and technical base of the healthcare system to combat infectious diseases; regularly updating appropriate equipment and tools on a scientific and methodological basis, and implementing international best practices.

This Plan is also aimed at ensuring the readiness of specialized national personnel, their professional improvement, taking into account the trends in the development of world medicine, to improve the quality of work of doctors in the most popular, based on the current situation in the world, specialties, in particular, virologists and immunologists.

In addition, the document provides for improving the scientific, methodological and regulatory framework of the health sector based on international experience and based on WHO recommendations. One of the areas of implementation of the Plan is the development of priority areas of national medical science. In this aspect, special attention will be paid to strengthening research activities together with international and regional partners, and to the wide practical implementation of innovative approaches and digital technologies.

President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov approved the presented Plan, stressing that concern for the health of the people is a constant priority of the state policy of Turkmenistan, the state news Agency of Turkmenistan reports.