New Delhi (The Hawk): The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today inaugurated A.M. Naik Healthcare Complex and Nirali Multi Speciality Hospital in Navsari. He also virtually inaugurated the Kharel education complex. Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel was among those present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion the Prime Minister said that today Navsari has received many projects that will improve the ease of living for the people in the area. He also appreciated the spirit of Nirali Trust and Shri AM Naik who converted a personal tragedy into an opportunity to ensure that no other family faces that and congratulated the people of Navsari for modern health complex and multi speciality hospital.
The Prime Minister said modernization and accessibility of healthcare facilities is critical for empowerment and ease of life of the poor. “We have focussed on a holistic approach during the last 8 years for improving the country's health sector”, he said. He elaborated that, along with modernization of treatment facilities, efforts have been made to improve nutrition and clean lifestyle. “We aim to protect the poor and middle class from disease and, in case of disease, we aim to minimize the expenses” the Prime Minister said. He noted the improvement in Gujarat’s healthcare infrastructure and healthcare indicators as Gujarat topped Sustainable Development Goal index of the NITI Ayog.
The Prime Minister recalled his days as Gujarat Chief Minister when he launched schemes like Swasthya Gujarat, Ujjwal Gujarat, Mukhyamanti Amritam Yojna. This experience, he said, is helping in serving the poor of the entire country. He informed that under Ayushman Bharat 41 lakh patients have taken benefit of free treatment in Gujarat, many of these were women, deprived and tribal people. The scheme has saved more than 7 thousand crore rupees of the patients. Gujarat has received more than 7.5 thousand health and wellness centers and 600 ‘Deendayal Aushadhalaya’. Government hospitals in Gujarats are equipped to deal with advanced treatment of diseases like cancer. Many cities like Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Rajkot etc are seeing the facilities of cancer treatment. Same expansion of infrastructure is visible in the state with regard to kidney treatment.
The Prime Minister also talked about improvement in the health and nutrition parameters of women and children. He referred to Chiranjivi Yojna for institutional delivery, which has benefitted 14 lakh mothers. The Prime Minister informed that Gujarat's Chiranjivi and Khikhilahat Schemes have been expanded at national level into Mission Indradhanush and PM Matru Vandana Yojana The Prime MInister also listed the measures to improve medical education in the state. AIIMS is coming up in Rajkot, number of medical colleges have reached 30 in the state and MBBS seats have increased from 1100 to 5700 and PG seats have gone up to more than 2000 from just 800.
The Prime Minister ended by saluting the service spirit of the people of Gujarat. He said “for the people of Gujarat, health and service are the goals of life. We have the inspiration of great men like Bapu who made service a strength of the country. This spirit of Gujarat is still full of energy. Here even the most successful person is associated with some service work. Gujarat’s service of spirit will increase in tandem with increase in its capability, the Prime Minister concluded.