Govt committed to ensure affordable healthcare for all: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said access to medicines is a "big concern" for the poor as he expressed his government's commitment to decrease the financial burden and ensure affordable healthcare for every Indian.

Interacting with beneficiaries of the 'Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojna (PMBJP)' and affordable cardiac stents and knee implants through video conference, he said government is working to provide more beds, hospitals and doctors and has taken one step after the other so that the cost incurred by the poor on treatment comes down.

He said for providing good medical facilities to the poor and those residing in rural areas, more than 90 medical colleges have been opened and 15,000 MBBS seats increased.

Talking about his government's ambitious Ayushman Bharat programme, he said under this, around 10 crore families and 50 crore people will be given health insurance of Rs 5 lakh.

"The first phase of this yojna has been initiated and soon people across the country, will get benefited by it," he said.

As people living in small villages or towns find it difficult to go to a hospital or health centre that is very far away, the government has decided to open around 1.5 health centres across the country under Ayushman Bharat.

Apart from medicines, diagnostics facilities will also be available in them, he said.

"In the last four years, our government has taken one step after the other so that the cost incurred by the poor for treatment can come down.

"I can say with satisfaction that we have chosen the right direction, taken the right path, made the right policies and they are now reaching the grass root level...We have worked in mission mode," he said