Kathua: Asserting that India has taken a lead in the production of vaccines for the prevention of malignancies like Cervavac, Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday (September 24) said affordable and accessible healthcare is the road map for a “healthy India”. He said India has moved from a sectoral and segmented approach to health service delivery to a comprehensive need-based healthcare service and is now seen as a role model in crisis management and preventive healthcare. The minister of state in the Prime Minister’s office was speaking at the launch of Jammu and Kashmir’s first ever state-of-the-art cancer care facility affiliated to Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai in the new block of Government Medical College Kathua.
Under the leadership of PM Sh @NarendraModi, affordable, accessible, Tech-driven healthcare is the roadmap for ‘Healthy India’. With comprehensive Healthcare Facilities like 3 Centrally funded Medical Colleges, Biotech Park, Tata Memorial Cancer Center Facility at
1/2 pic.twitter.com/RV5ZKhKOHg— Dr Jitendra Singh (@DrJitendraSingh) September 24, 2023
He said,
India has taken a lead in the production of vaccines for the prevention of malignancies like cervavac – the country’s first quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine to fight cervical cancer. The Biotechnology sector is growing by leaps and bounds as India is set to achieve USD 150 billion Bio-economy by 2025, which stood at over USD 100 billion in 2022.
“Affordable and accessible healthcare is the road map for ‘Healthy India’ under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which is evident from the fact that more than 260 new medical colleges have been established in the country with a 79 per cent increase in MBBS seats and 93 per cent in PG seats in nine years besides approving of 22 AIIMS,” he said.
Mr Singh thanked PM Modi for bringing ‘Preventive Health Care’ into focus in the country for the first time which is the reason that in just a span of two years, India could produce two DNA vaccines and one nasal vaccine.
Referring to the launch of the cancer care facility in Kathua, the minister said he felt pained to receive calls every day from different parts of the region from desperate family members pleading to arrange admission of cancer patients at Tata Hospital Mumbai or arrange accommodation for the attendants.
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Mr Singh said he then decided to start the facility at Kathua and moved the papers to the Department of Atomic Energy which is the controlling authority of Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai. He said,
With increasing lifespan, changing lifestyles and environmental factors, the prevalence of cancer is assuming epidemic proportions and cancers of all nature and all organs are happening everywhere. A Tata satellite cancer care facility in Kathua will therefore prove to be a great boon for the region.
Under the leadership of PM Modi, he said, satellite hospitals and the facility of Tata Memorial Centre have been started in different parts of the country and in Guwahati, even Onco DM and MCh super speciality courses have been started, which could be contemplated for Kathua as well.
He said his Kathua-Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary constituency could be the future ‘Health Circuit’ of India with state-of-the-art healthcare facilities like three medical colleges and north India’s first biotech park.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
