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Washington, April 8
US President Donald Trump has sharply criticised the World Health Organisation, accusing it of being too focussed on China and issuing bad advice during the Covid outbreak and saying he would put a hold on US funding for the agency.
Big help from India
A sizeable chunk of the 29 million doses of hydroxychloroquine bought by the US to combat the coronavirus pandemic is from India.—Donald Trump, US President
“The WHO really blew it,” Trump said in a Twitter post. “For some reason, funded largely by the US, yet very China-centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately, I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?” the President repeated the accusations against the UN health organisation at a White House press briefing.
“They called it wrong. They really missed the call,” the President said. “And we’re going to put a hold on money sent to the WHO.” However, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric rejected the criticism of the WHO, which is led by Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“For the Secretary-General (Antonio Guterres), it is clear that the WHO, has done tremendous work on Covid, in supporting countries with millions of pieces of equipment being shipped out, on helping countries with training, on providing global guidelines — WHO is showing the strength of the international health system,” he told reporters.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, vowed there would not be any funding for the WHO in the next Senate appropriations Bill. — Reuters
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