Address by EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar at the launch of National Prosthetics Centre in Trinidad and Tobago (May 09, 2026)

Most Respected Prime Minister

Dr Lackram Bodoe, Minister of Health

Hon'ble Ministers ,Dignitaries

1. High Commissioner, Permanent Secretaries Mr Ajit Patel ji, Invited guests,

2. It is really wonderful to be here with you today. And Prime Minister was just talking to me, and she was saying, you can say whatever you like today, it's my place. So, I want to say two things - perhaps, yesterday Prime Minister, was the official day, today for me, what I am doing here, I could be doing at home. I could be doing exactly this routine, of course, not in the distinguished company of your Prime Minister there, but it is really you know for those of us in public life , there is no greater satisfaction than to be participating in some concrete manifestation of development, some project which makes the lives of people better. And to do that with such a close partner and in a way, I could say you know - I have been by the way twice to this country before - but this time in this place I can say this is the real thing, this is the constituency of an extraordinary Member of Parliament, I am sure nobody disagrees with that. And to come here and be part of what we call punya kaam, really good work, something which you are rewarded for, I think that's an extraordinary feeling.

3. So let me begin again by saying something which I shared with the audience in the last event we had, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a man of enormous energy, everybody knows that, extraordinarily wide range of interests - with an obsession about getting things done. So it's about leadership, it's about vision but it's about delivery. And keeping all of that in mind, the constant advice to us in the Foreign Ministry is if you have done things well at home, go and do it abroad in countries which have similar requirements. And that was at the food processing plant, but even more so today using a technology I would say an experience almost, almost the culture of prosthetics for which the Jaipur foot has become so famous across the world.

4. So as you all know, the Jaipur Food Artificial Limb Fitment Camp was announced by Prime Minister Modi when he was here last year, less than a year ago, and I was I think badgering the High Commissioner, and very encouraged by what he told me which was that, look the camp is being organised, there is a huge demand here, and today we are now taking this to the next stage by setting up a centre. But I also want to take the opportunity to say that I know the demand was more than what was envisaged a year ago and we will go the extra mile to meet the extra demand.

5. Now where the Prosthetics are concerned, of course this is something Jaipur Foot has made its name known across the world. I would say really literally 100s of thousands, perhaps even millions have benefited over the years. I have visited other occasions like this and it is natural that it meets with a tremendous response from the cross section of people.

6. But what I would like to recognize today, Honourable Prime Minister, is that it is not just that we have done a successful camp today as partners, we recognize the value of that camp and by setting up that center we are now trying to make this something which will be a continuing effort to address the needs of very vulnerable people, and address those needs as we saw in the short film, needs which not only provide mobility, which not only reduce vulnerability but which actually strengthen dignity and impart self-confidence and for that to happen in the Prime Minister's Constituency, believe me ladies and gentlemen, that is a statement in itself. So for us in India, the fact that the Prime Minister is taking such deep personal interest to the extent of actually encouraging a centre in her own constituency that has its message and Prime Minister, let me assure you from our side, we will fully reciprocate that sentiment and everything that comes with it, it is our commitment today to ensure that this centre functions to the best of its ability and beyond and whatever support is needed further from the Government of India and my Ministry, we will surely give.

7. The Honourable Health Minister referred to some other facets of our cooperation, also which were discussed when Prime Minister Modi was here, so there were, the haemodialysis machines, there were the commitment of sea ambulances, also of making medicines more affordable and accessible to people. I share with you our own experience, one of the most popular initiatives and to my mind one of the most effective health initiatives which the Modi government had launched, was to ensure that a whole set of people for whom buying medicines on a recurring basis for health issues like diabetes or high blood pressure or even cancer, how do we address that by really dramatically lowering costs and that is something we have been quite successful at. So as I said, good experiences are there for sharing , not so good ones for learning - certainly this is one which we would like to share with you in the coming years and I would like to conclude by saying it has been really for me a very very interesting day - the day is still ahead of us but let's say you know in cricketing parlance, we are going to break for lunch , actually we are going to break literally for lunch. But I could not think of a better place to do that than this great constituency of such a wonderful Member of Parliament. So thank you again. Thank you for being here.

8. Thank you for the opportunity of having me as you today mark a very very important development in the health future of Trinidad and Tobago.

Thank You!

Port of Spain
May 09, 2026