Government working on four fronts to keep India healthy: PM Narendra Modi

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday pushed for involvement of the private sector in healthcare saying India is now preparing to be self-reliant with focus on the public-private-partnership (PPP) model.

This will help India deal better with health emergencies and improve access to healthcare for all, he said while addressing a webinar on health budget allocation.

“The amount allocated for the health sector in this year’s budget is unprecedented and is an attempt to provide better healthcare services to every citizen.” 

Pointing out that last year was a “test” in the health sector, he said India passed with flying colours as it managed to save lives and create testing infrastructure in a few months, with currently 2,500 labs active for Covid testing and 210 million tests administered so far.

“Last year was a trial by fire for India, world and the whole of humanity. I am pleased to say that the health sector has successfully overcome this challenge. We succeeded in saving scores of lives.” 

Modi also underlined that the budget allocated for health now is phenomenal and shows the government’s commitment towards this sector.

The Centre announced a hike of 137% in health budget for the coming fiscal, though a closer look at the allocation showed the actual increase for core areas in the sector is just about 9%. The pandemic, Modi said, has taught us a lesson to fight and be prepared for future challenges.

“From medical equipment to medicines, from ventilators to vaccines, from scientific research to surveillance infrastructure, from doctors to epidemiologists, we have to focus on everything and all this is aimed at being better prepared for any health disaster in the future.”

To keep India healthy, he said, the government is working on four main things: prevention of illness and promotion of wellness, healthcare access to all, building health infrastructure and increase in quality and quantity of healthcare professionals.

The government is committed to working for the prevention of illness and promotion of wellness, he said.