-by Niba Mirza*

HYDERABAD (IDN) In the times of COVID-19, the Audio Visual Regional Hub of the Asociación Latinoamericana de Comunicación Audiovisual Parlamentaria, ALCAP, or the Latin American Parliamentary Association of Audio-Visual Communication, signed a MOU with the ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad for joint-movie/documentary productions concerned with the pandemic and other global public health issues on 4 August 2021.

ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad is a leading medical institution in India which was set up in 2016 under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.

Employees’ State Insurance is a self-financing social security and health insurance scheme for the Indian workers. The fund is managed by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation according to rules and regulations stipulated in the ESI Act 1948.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was facilitated by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S., ALCAP’s Special Adviser- Asia and Africa who also negotiated and convinced ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad to be part of “Documentaries for Development,” a concept developed by him which has a special relevance for the Global South.

The MOU was signed by Prof. Srinivas M., Dean of the ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad and Dr. Marcelo E. Decoud, General Regional Director of the Regional Hub of ALCAP.

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended and completely transformed the world we live in. It has caused many disruptions and posed serious threats to lives and livelihoods universally. Organizations and societies responded and coped with the pandemic differently, and innovated at various levels to deal with COVID-19.

These innovations include social innovations, communications innovations, business innovations, medical innovations, financial innovations and many other innovations which help us prepare for the next normal as COVID-19 becomes endemic.

The partnership of ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad and the Audio Visual Regional Hub of ALCAP shall help disseminate information about the scientific and social innovations to deal with COVID-19 and other global public health issues through joint movie/documentary productions.

ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad is a leading medical institution in India which bagged the “ Best ESIC College” in the country award, and in May 2020, set up a 300 beds hospital exclusively for COVID-19 patients along with the Government of the State of Telangana.  Its new medical services and facilities to serve the patients are on an expansion.

It has also collaborated with various renowned stakeholders like the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to develop innovative solutions like the mobile diagnostic laboratories to test COVID-19 safely, effectively and efficiently.

More recently, ESIC Hyderabad was involved in the clinical trials of 2-deoxy-D glucose (2-DG) drug for treatment of moderate to severe Covid-19 cases which is developed by the DRDO and produced by the Indian pharmaceutical giant Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.

Renowned for its excellence, medical care and research, ESIC-Hyderabad is also a model for other states in India. In January, the concerned authorities decided that two new teaching hospitals in Alwar (Rajasthan) and Bihta (Bihar) will be upgraded with ESIC-Hyderabad as the mentor.

It is to be noted that audio-visual exchange especially joint-movie / documentary production plays a very important role in the sphere of international development and cooperation. The same was manifested in the SAARC Audio Visual Exchange (SAVE) programme of the SAARC or recent cooperation between Belgium and Jordan for joint-movie production.

The first joint documentary produced under the partnership of ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad and the Audio-Visual Regional Hub of ALCAP is titled “SALIENCE- ESIC’s Scientific and Social Innovations in the times of COVID-19.”

Because of its immense relevance of the theme of the envisioned documentary especially for the developing countries, it is being planned that the documentary is premiered and broadcast on 24 October 2021, the United Nations Day.

Earlier on 31 March 2021, ALCAP signed an Expression of Interest (EOI) with the Government of Ukraine about the documentary production ′′ Ukrainian Hearts ′′ which is about the Ukrainian community in Paraguay. The same will be broadcast on the Public Television of Ukraine and on 22 Regional TV networks of the South America countries.

The partnership of ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad and the Audio-Visual Regional Hub of ALCAP is expected to bring the peoples of India closer to their South American counterparts especially the parliamentary fraternity, and vice versa.

The additional benefits will be cultural exchanges and free flow of ideas through joint seminars / conferences where experts and parliamentarians from South America can interact with the stakeholders in India through ESIC-Hyderabad.

It is also expected that the signed MOU between ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad and the Audio-Visual Regional Hub of ALCAP will stimulate social, cultural, and academic research, and other mutual co-operations to develop Analytical, Accurate, Adaptive, Accepting approaches in the sphere of public health between South America and India.

* Niba Mirza is a BA-Philosophy (Honours) graduate from the Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi. She is pursuing her post-graduate studies in Development Communication from the Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi and is interested in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.