India languished under UPA until my govt gave health priority: PM
Mixing carping criticism of successive Congress governments which had miserably failed to factor-in the aspirations of the people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched “Mission Indradhanush” from his home town of Vadnagar in north Gujarat on Sunday listing health-for-all as the top priority of his government.
”Such a huge country like India did not have a health policy until the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led BJP government assumed charge in Delhi. Thereafter it languished under Congress rule until my government formulated a new health policy with the avowed aim of the best health facilities for all, alongside quality drugs at cheap prices ”, he said.
The prime minister, who received a tumultuous reception in his home town, dedicated a 650-bed hospital and medical college setup by the Gujarat government in Vadnagar to the nation.
Mission Indradhanush is an immunization scheme initiated by the Centre to cover the most backward 173 districts in the district where the vaccinations to all children programme had not yet reached properly.
The prime minister charged the Congress governments with hatred for development and total lack of concern for the welfare of the people even has he went back to this age old theme of ‘’injustice to Gujarat’’ at the hands of the UPA-led Centre.
With elections round the corner in the state and the BJP-led government under attack for insipid governance and rising ethnic conflict, the prime minister’s speech signals an attempt to shift the blame to a party which was last elected to power in Gujarat almost a quarter century ago.
This is Modi’s first visit to Vadnagar after becoming the prime minister in May, 2014.
After arriving at Vadnagar from Gandhinagar on Saturday, Modi was given a rousing welcome in his town during a road show. Modi also visited the BM High School where he had his early schooling and kissed the ground and applied its soil on his forehead. From his school, he went to the Hatkeshwar Mahadev temple, the ancient temple of Lord Shiva in Vadnagar which he frequented in his childhood.
Later Modi flew in to Broach where he laid the foundation stone of a barrage to stop the Narmada waters to flow into the sea, flagged off the Antodaya Express from Udhana, Surat, to Bihar, inaugurated a plant at the Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilisers Company, and several other schemes. In all in the two days of his visit to his home state, Modi either inaugurated or laid the foundation stone of various projects requiring investment of over Rs 12,000 crores.
Modi hit out at the UPA government even in respect of the seats available and facilities provided at the medical colleges. He said due to its lack of vision, it did not develop a proper policy for medical education for qualified doctors required to provide health services to the entire country. He said his government had decided to open at least one medical college among every three or four Lok Sabha constituencies and had also increased the number of postgraduation seats in the existing medical colleges by 6,000 to provide qualified professors required for the new medical colleges.