India on Monday crossed the milestone of having conducted 110 million covid-19 tests, but public health experts warned this wasn’t enough and that India needs to scale up testing rapidly in order to control the pandemic. India’s rate of testing remains one of the lowest in the world. It conducts 82,032 tests per 1 million population, compared to 437,318 per 1 million in the US, 492,161 in the UK and 111,163 in China.
M.K. Padma Kumar is involved in developing strategies and managing operations for the IPE Global Group.
He has over 25 years of experience in the development sector, working in civil society organisations and international development agencies like DANIDA and DFID. As the Head of State Partnerships at the DFID India, he was responsible for developing partnerships, programme design, management and strategic oversight of all programmes implemented in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. He has managed various development programmes. His expertise lies in driving operational, financial and programmatic transformations. Before DFID, he was associated with Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Help Age and World Wildlife Fund.
He holds a Master’s degree in Business Management with specialisation in Human Resource Management and Finance. He is extensively trained in Project Cycle Management, Grant Management, Performance Management, Leadership Skills and Change Management.
