Senate Speaker Sen Kenneth Lusaka today met HE Suchitra Durai, the High Commissioner of India to Kenya who called on him at his Parliament Buildings Office.

At the meeting, Speaker Lusaka told the High Commissioner that there was need for Kenya and India to deepen cooperation especially on health and capacity development.

“India has enjoyed a lot of medical tourism from the Kenyan people – with focus being on treatment using modern medicine. I however believe that Kenya can learn a lot from India on traditional medicine,” observed the Senate Speaker.

“With our natural occurring forests we would be able to utilize fully the benefits of medicinal herbs for both preventive and curative treatments.”

Reading from the same script, HE Durai reported that the High Commission was cognizant of Kenya’s potential in traditional medicine and had forwarded paperwork to relevant ministries.

“We have made some progress in this area. At present we have shared a draft MoU with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I believe that consultations are on-going with counterpart Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture,” the High Commissioner revealed.

Other areas of cooperation discussed at the meeting included: tourism, trade and commerce, capacity development of staffers at the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training (BPST), and scholarships for Kenyans to study in India (degree programmes and short courses).

Also present at the meeting were Rajesh Swami, Deputy High Commissioner; Roselyn Omollo, Chief of Staff; Njenga Ruge, Director (Ag) Speaker’s Office and Rose Natecho, Research Officer.