Lack of primary healthcare reason behind high rate of infant deaths, says PM Modi

Raising concern on the high rate of infant deaths in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the main reason behind such deaths is the lack of primary health care services and underlined the need for the government and the society to give priority to make basic healthcare service available to the poorest of the poor.

While inaugurating Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital in South Mumbai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Even today the high infant mortality rate in our country is worrisome, mortality rate of mothers during child birth is also very high. The reason behind this is the lack of primary health care services. The government and the society should give priority to make basic healthcare service available to the poorest of the poor."

"The key aspect of health care is the availability of medical equipments used by the doctors to diagnose the problem. These equipments are very expensive," the Prime Minister added.

Prime Minister Modi pointed out that when a child falls into a bore well, people pay a lot of attention and the media covers it. But when a child falls fatally ill because of poor medical facilities, hardly any attention is given.

Prime Minister further said, "We have taken an initiative called make in India, why can't we encourage making of medical equipment in India? If medical equipments is produced in India then the medical facilities can reach farthest of the villages at less cost."

Sir HN Reliance foundation has been completely rebuilt by Reliance Foundation into a modern 19-storey tower with two heritage wings.

The chairperson of the Reliance Foundation Nita Ambani felicitated Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The inauguration ceremony of Sir HN Reliance foundation hospital was attended by movie starts like Amitabh Bachchan, Sharukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Many sportspersons like Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Rohit Sharma and M S Dhoni were also present.