New Delhi: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday (February 3) commended the expansion and improvement of medical education reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Ayushman Bharat where health facilities become affordable, accessible and available to every citizen and everyone gets healthcare facilities with the same quality standards.
Elaborating further, Mr Mandaviya cited “momentous growth” in health facilities such as addition of 16 new AIIMS institutes that provide free treatment to the poor as well as the establishment of over 1,60,00 Ayushman Aarogya Mandir that adopt a preventative and holistic approach entailing preventative screening, lifestyle education and wellness components.
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Expanding the umbrella of health infrastructure, India leverages digital medium to ensure that health services reach the last mile providing connectivity, consultancy to doctors through mediums such as eSanjeevni and Tele-MANAS saving immense time and money of patients.
While delivering the keynote address at the fourth convocation in AIIMS Jodhpur, Rajasthan, Mr Mandaviya said many lives can be saved in emergency situations if critical care service is available on time in all major diseases. Mr Mandaviya said,
Our hospitals are temples of medicine and as a doctor it is your responsibility to serve them.
He emphasised initiatives such as Sickle Cell Elimination Programme and TB Free India campaign, which has witnessed multitude of TB patients of the country are being adopted by Ni-kshay Mitras are aligned with the goal of achieving Ayushman Bharat.
The health minister inaugurated 24 health facilities across AIIMS Bilaspur, Rishikesh, Gorakhpur, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar, Deoghar and laid the foundation stone for 68 health services for AIIMS Jodhpur.
He was joined by Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and state Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar.
Mr Mandaviya awarded meritorious students with gold medals, appreciating their achievements. The event was marked by distribution of degrees to students who completed their studies in medical, nursing undergraduate, post graduate and super specialty courses.
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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 in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. 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 a world post 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 well-being, 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.