India would soon swap with Sweden yoga and ayurveda for diagnostics and medical education.

"A road map would be collectively charted out in this regard very soon," said Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. Swedish Minister for Elderly Care and Public Health Maria Larsson was also present at the inauguration of Indo-Swedish health week in the capital on Monday.

Maria Larsson expressed hope that both the countries can benefit from each other's strengths in the area of public health and the size of her delegation bears a testimony to the interest that India has generated in her country.

Azad said that India is ready to partner in the field of geriatric care and mental health particularly for developing faculty and human resource to sustain our national programmes.

"While we are a young country, the absolute number of people who are above the age of 65 years is huge and growing very fast. This segment of the population requires specialised care which currently is provided from within the families. But with economic progress, large families are giving way to micro families leaving the elderly quite vulnerable to disease and distress," Azad added. He said, "India supports Sweden's view in controlling risk factors of alcohol that a global strategy has to be adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2010.

Azad also pointed out the Swedish Council of Working Life will conduct the Public Health Summer School in 2010-11. The school is an innovative concept to institutionalise exchange of ideas between young research scholars from India and Sweden. The Indo-Swedish health week, to commemorate the first anniversary of the signing of the MoU between the two countries, is being observed from February 1-5.