New Delhi, Oct 29, 2024, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, OCT 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday asserted that augmenting the healthcare infrastructure is the government’s priority as the nation’s progress accelerates when its citizens are healthy.

With this vision, the central government has established five pillars of health policy, prioritizing citizens’ well-being. These pillars are preventive healthcare, timely diagnosis, affordable medicines and treatment, proper healthcare in small towns and villages, and technology expansion in the healthcare sector.

Modi stated this while launching development projects worth over Rs 12,850 crore on the occasion of the ninth Ayurveda Day and the birth anniversary of Dhanvantari, the Hindu god of medicine. He said that during this year's general elections, he had promised that people aged 70 years and above would be brought under the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme during the third term of his government.

Modi said that India is looking at the health sector as holistic health, adding that the projects of today provide a glimpse of these five pillars. He underlined that to overcome the despair of the poor, the government introduced the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, where it is bearing the cost of hospitalization of the poor up to Rs five lakh.

Expressing satisfaction on the expansion of the Ayushman Yojana, Modi said that every elderly person was looking forward to it as now person above 70 years of age in the country will get free treatment in the hospital by an Ayushman Vaya Vandana Card.

Reiterating the government’s priority to reduce the cost of treatment, the Prime Minister mentioned the launch of more than 14,000 PM Jan Aushadhi Kendras across the country where medicines are available at an 80 percent discount.

The Prime Minister emphasised the importance of timely diagnosis in reducing the risks and inconveniences associated with illnesses. He highlighted that over two lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs have been established across the country to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment.

Modi also underscored the importance of validating traditional herbs through high-impact scientific studies. Underlining that the success of AYUSH is transforming not only the health sector but also the economy, the Prime Minister informed that the AYUSH manufacturing sector has grown from three billion dollars in 2014 to nearly 24 billion dollars today in just 10 years. He added that over 900 AYUSH start-ups are now operational in India, creating new opportunities for the youth.

Modi also inaugurated Phase II of India’s First All India Institute of Ayurveda. It includes a Panchakarma hospital, an Ayurvedic pharmacy for drug manufacturing, a sports medicine unit, a central library, an IT and start-ups incubation centre and a 500-seat auditorium, among others.

He inaugurated three medical colleges at Mandsaur, Neemuch, and Seoni in Madhya Pradesh. Further, the Prime Minister also inaugurated facility and service extensions at various AIIMS in Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh, Kalyani in West Bengal, Patna in Bihar, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Guwahati in Assam and in New Delhi, which will also include a Jan Aushadhi Kendra. 

The Prime Minister inaugurated a Super Speciality Block in Government Medical College at Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh and a Critical Care Block in Bargarh, Odisha. The foundation stones of five Nursing Colleges in Shivpuri, Ratlam, Khandwa, Rajgarh and Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh were also laid by him.

During the event, he laid the foundation stone of 21 Critical Care Blocks at Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Manipur, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan under Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), and several facilities and service extensions at AIIMS in New Delhi and in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh.