PM launches Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission in Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission worth Rs 64,000 crore in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, to address gaps and strengthen the critical health care network from village and block to the district and national level in the next four to five years.

“Those whose governments remained in the country for a long time, instead of the all-around development of the country's healthcare system, kept it deprived of facilities. The PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission aims to tackle this deficiency,” Modi said.

He also inaugurated various development projects worth around Rs 5,200 crore for Varanasi.

Elaborate facilities for diagnostics and treatment including health and wellness centers are being opened in villages as well as cities as part of this Mission, PM said. These centres, he said, would enable early detection of diseases, provide free medical consultation, tests, and medicines.

For serious illness, 35 thousand new critical care-related beds are being added in 600 districts and referral facilities will be given in 125 districts.

As part of the scheme, 730 districts of the country will get integrated public health labs, 3,000 blocks would get block public health units.  A national institution for one health, four new national institutes for virology, a regional research platform for WHO South East Asia Region, nine biosafety level-III laboratories, five new regional national centre for disease control will also be set up under the Mission.

“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,” Modi added.

Describing the scheme, the PM said, “It is a part of the effort to achieve holistic health care. Which means healthcare that is affordable and accessible to all.”

Modi also inaugurated nine new medical colleges in Siddharth Nagar, UP. He said before 2014 (when his party came to power), the medical seats in the country were less than 90,000 and in the last 7 years, 60,000 new medical seats had been added. 

“In Uttar Pradesh too, till 2017 there were only 1900 medical seats in government medical colleges. Whereas in the government of double engine, more than 1,900 seats have been increased in just the last four years,” the prime minister said.