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At the foundation stone-laying of AIIMS Rajkot Campus on the last day of 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that signing off 2020 with a beginning of a new medical project is an indication of the priorities set for the new year 2021.
In his video address to the ceremony held at Rajkot’s Khandheri village, Modi said that India with its proven strengths to adapt, evolve and expand in the healthcare space has emerged as a healthcare nerve centre for the globe.
“We have seen how the ailments are becoming global. So, our effort in the health solutions too need to be global. Working in silos won’t work. We have to combine everyone to think (of solutions) for everyone. At the global level, India will play a major role in the future of health and the health of future,” he said, pointing to India’s growing prowess in medical tools, professionals, vaccination experience and expertise and technological innovations in the healthcare sector.
Also read: ₹5,100 cr spent, but tardy progress on most new AIIMS
While paying tribute to the doctors, healthcare workers and frontline warriors and the people involved in the fight against Covid-19, the PM said India today is in a better position to fight Covid-19. “India has one crore people already recovered from Covid-19. India’s record has been much better than the world in the fight against Covid-19. For new infections, our graph is going down. The Covid-19 fear and pessimism, which had become the identity of 2020, is going away. And 2021 is coming with the hope of solution,” Modi said.
“If 2020 was the year of health challenges, 2021 is going to be the year of health solutions,” he added.
Modi also stated that the starting of AIIMS-Rajkot, will be a boost not just for Gujarat but also for India’s healthcare system, which was, till 2014, operating in different directions. “We adopted a wholistic approach to the healthcare system and focused on preventive care. We tried to reduce the cost of treatment for the poor, and also tried to ensure doctor availability,” he said, adding that in the past six years, 31,000 new MBBS seats and 24,000 PG medical seats have been added across India.
Giving data on Centre’s flagship mass healthcare scheme, Ayushman Bharat, Modi said that so far about 1.5 crore poor people have been provided free treatment for up to ₹5 lakh.
“This scheme has saved more than ₹30,000 crore for the poor of India and it has liberated the poor from massive financial stress arising from serious ailments such as cancer, kidney, heart diseases,” he said.
On the cost of medicines, Modi informed that the Centre’s Jan Aushadhi Kendra network has become the companion of the poor for affordable medicines. “There are about 7,000 Jan Aushadhi Kendras, which provide medicines at concessional rates of up to 90 per cent. With this, the poor are able to save about ₹3,600 crore on average annually. This is a big help,” he added.
The construction of a new AIIMSnear Rajkot brings an end to Gujarat’s wait for the apex Central healthcare institute in the State.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in his address stated that ever since the first AIIMS was set up in 1956 there has been gross injustice to Gujarat in granting an AIIMS campus till date. “It was with the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of Gujarat that we are seeing AIIMS taking shape in Gujarat now. The Centre has granted budget of ₹1,200 crore for this 201-acre project, which will be completed in the next 22 months,” Rupani said in his address, adding that Gujarat is planning to set up one medical college in each district of the State.
Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, Nitin Patel, Deputy Chief Minister and State health minister were present at the ceremony.
The new AIIMS will generate employment opportunities for 7,000-8,000 people including paramedics, and doctors, among others. There will be 1,000 resident doctors and about 625 students. The academic session of the first batch was started on December 21 with 50 MBBS students at a temporary campus in Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Medical College in Rajkot.
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