Health diplomacy is emerging as a key instrument of India's Neighbourhood First policy. Examine with reference to the First BIMSTEC Health Ministers' Meeting.

Health diplomacy means using medical aid, capacity-building and health-system models to build trust between states. The First BIMSTEC Health Ministers' Meeting in Colombo was mandated by the Sixth Summit (Bangkok, April 2025). It adopted a Joint Ministerial Statement and a Revised Plan of Action on Public Health (2026–2030) [1]. This marks health's rise into a key instrument of India's neighbourhood outreach, though delivery is still to be proven.

Health as an instrument of Neighbourhood First

• Institutional platform: a biennial ministerial track now gives health political ownership. BIMSTEC's Charter, in force since May 2024, provides the legal base [1][2].
• Exporting the UHC model: India offered AB PM-JAY, Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, ABDM and eSanjeevani (50 crore+ teleconsultations). Its health digital public infrastructure becomes a regional public good [1].
• Soft power through traditional medicine: a BIMSTEC Centre of Excellence in Traditional Medicine at ITRA, Jamnagar [1].
• First Responder image: after Cyclone Ditwah, India funded 100 more ambulances for Sri Lanka's 1990 Suwa Seriya and 50 Health ATMs. Both come under a USD 450 million package [1].
• Shared health security: the Joint Statement covers One Health, AMR and early warning, including Bangladesh's proposed zoonotic observatory [1].
• Strategic convergence: Neighbourhood First, Act East and MAHASAGAR meet in BIMSTEC. Health adds a non-security track to India's lead of the Security pillar [2].

Limitations

• Implementation deficit: the PoA is a revised one, and the MEA itself sets only "early implementation" of PoAs as the goal [2].
• Consensus rule: one hesitant member can stall the outbreak data-sharing that early warning depends on [2].
• Credibility at home: the CAG found only 73% of target households registered under PM-JAY. It also found treatments recorded for patients already marked dead [3].
• Bilateral over regional: the most concrete deliverables are India–Sri Lanka aid, not pooled regional funding. The Digital Health Framework is still only "possible" [1].

Way forward

• A public annual PoA scorecard to review before the next ministerial meeting.
• Data-sharing protocols agreed before the early-warning system is built.
• Tighter PM-JAY fraud controls before offering the model abroad.

Health diplomacy has thus moved from one-off aid to an institutionalised regional track that serves Neighbourhood First. If it is backed by measurable delivery, it can advance SDG 3 and India's role as a trusted Vishwa Bandhu in the Bay of Bengal.