‘Health infra mission to prepare country to fight future pandemics’
Under Ayushman Bharat mission, wellness centres being opened in villages and cities: PM
VARANASI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Rs 64,000-crore Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, one of the largest pan-India schemes for strengthening healthcare infrastructure, from his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, on Monday.
He said the mission will also prepare the country to fight future pandemics.
The PM also inaugurated various development projects worth more than Rs 5,200 crore for his constituency, while addressing a public rally in Varanasi.
Earlier in the day, Modi inaugurated nine medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh (built at a cost of Rs 2,329 crore) virtually from Siddharthnagar.
“Ayushman Bharat Mission has been launched to give strength to the health infrastructure of the country, including UP, so that there are high level preparations to prevent and deal with future pandemics,” said Modi.
He said good health was considered the basis of every action and therefore investment to make the body healthy was always considered good.
The PM lamented that in postindependent India, health infrastructure did not get the required attention for a very long time and citizens had to run from pillar to post for proper treatment.
“After independence, for a long period, health facilities and infrastructure were not given much attention. The previous governments deprived the country’s healthcare system of facilities,“alleged Modi.
He said villages lacked hospitals while hospitals at block level lacked testing facilities and district hospitals didn’t have facilities for treatment of serious diseases. “In big hospitals, there were long queues and patients had to wait for long. There were shortcomings in the healthcare system,” he added.
“To remove these shortcomings, the Ayushman Bharat Heath Infrastructure Mission has been launched. Under this mission, health and wellness centres are being opened in villages and cities. These will provide facilities for early detection of diseases. Free medical consultation, free tests, and medicines will be available at these centres,” said Modi.
The Prime Minister said there were three major aspects of the Ayushman Bharat Mission to address gaps in the health sector. The first was related to the creation of elaborate facilities for diagnostics and treatment. Under this, health and wellness centres were being opened in villages and cities to provide facilities for early detection of diseases. “Free medical consultation, free tests and free medicines will be available at these centres. For serious illness, 35,000 new critical care-related beds are being added in 600 districts of the country and referral facilities will be set up in 125 districts,” he said.
The second aspect of the scheme was related to the testing network for diagnosis of diseases. A total of 730 districts of the country would get integrated public health labs and 3,000 blocks would get block public health units. Apart from that, five regional national centres for disease control, 20 metropolitan units, and 15 BSL labs will further strengthen this network, said Modi.
The third aspect, according to the PM, was the expansion of existing research institutions that study pandemics. The existing 80 viral diagnostic and research labs will be strengthened, 15 bio-safety level labs will be operationalised, four new national institutes of virology and a national institute for health were being established. “This means, through PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, an entire ecosystem for services – from treatment to critical research will be created in every corner of the country,” he said.
He added: “The speed with which new medical colleges are being opened in UP will have great impact on the number of medical seats and doctors. Due to more seats, children of poor parents will also be able to dream of becoming doctors and fulfill it.”
Modi said the condition of Kashi would have been different had the previous governments paid attention to its development. “The work done in Varanasi in the last 7 years was not done in several decades,” he said.
“At present, all round development is taking place in Varanasi. From technology to health, all facilities are being created in BHU. Young friends from all over the country are coming here for studies,” added the PM.
The PM said the country had achieved a major milestone of 100 crore vaccine doses in its fight against the corona epidemic. “With the blessings of Baba Vishwanath, unwavering glory of Maa Ganga and the unshakeable confidence of the people of Kashi, the free vaccination for all campaign was moving forward successfully,” he said.