World Health Summit: Dr. Yunus cancels Berlin visit

Former Chief Adviser of the interim government Dr. Muhammad Yunus has cancelled his visit at the last moment although he was scheduled to participate in the three-day World Health Summit in Berlin of Germany. The organisers are saying that Muhammad Yunus is not joining the summit due to health reasons.

It has been learnt that several organisations of expatriate Bangladeshis in Europe had raised objections over the possibility of Yunus’s participation in the summit. Expressing concern over the measles situation of Bangladesh, the organisations also raised the demand for reconsideration of the decision of his participation. However, the organisers have informed about the health-related matter as the reason for cancelling the visit.

The theme of this year’s ‘World Health Summit’, which started on Sunday, is ‘From Crisis to Resilience: Innovation for Health’. Scientists, medical experts, government officials and representatives of international organisations of various countries are participating in this summit that will continue till Tuesday. Discussions are being held in various sessions of the summit on the crisis of the world health system and the ways to tackle it.

According to the information given on the website of the summit, Dr. Zubaida Rahman, wife of Prime Minister of Bangladesh Tarique Rahman and vice-president of Ziaur Rahman Foundation, will also participate in a session. Muhammad Yunus was scheduled to give a speech in another session. His name had also been published as a speaker on the website of the summit. However, his name was removed from the list at the last moment.

When asked about this matter, Anna Stormer from the side of the communication team of the World Health Summit informed the media that Muhammad Yunus has cancelled the decision to participate in the summit due to health reasons. The news media has not received any response even after contacting the Yunus Centre in Dhaka for comments on this matter.

On the other hand, about three weeks ago five Europe-based organisations had demanded reconsideration of the decision of Yunus’s participation in the summit by expressing concern over the recent measles situation of Bangladesh. The organisations also submitted a petition with this demand.

The organisations are South Asia Democratic Forum, European Bangladesh Forum, Working Group Bangladesh in Germany, Earth Civilization Network and Freedom and Justice Alliance. Among these, South Asia Democratic Forum is Belgium-based and European Bangladesh Forum operates activities in Europe and the United Kingdom.

The petition said that questions have been raised in various reports over the role of the interim government in tackling the recent outbreak of measles in Bangladesh. It is necessary to review the matters independently. The organisations claimed that the decision to include Muhammad Yunus as a special speaker of the summit should be reconsidered before that review is completed.