Preventive healthcare should be the focus now, says Modi

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi while attending the AAPI Global Healthcare summit on Friday said that India should focus more on preventive healthcare in order to improve the health sector in the country.

"In our country the whole focus is more on the sickness and not on the health of a person.

We should focus more on prevention, than the solution. Unfortunately, we are short of doctors. We need more medical colleges. We have potential to export nursing staff," said Modi.

"There should be a more holistic approach in the health sector and education plays a vital role in preventive healthcare," he said.

"Medical science is becoming dependant on technology. Taking birth or living is not as expensive as falling ill," he added.

He further added that over four crore people get indebted every year because of someone falling ill in their family, leading to a miserable situation for them.

"Insurance has become a big business and not everybody can afford to do it. There are a lot of poor people in our country who cannot get their or their family member's health insured," he said.

"Therefore, our focus should be more on health assurance rather than health insurance," he added.

"Earlier, there used to be one doctor in a village and the whole village used to stay healthy, but today there is a special doctor for everything," said Modi.