"If coronavirus is an invisible enemy, our corona warriors, the medical workers, are invincible. In the battle—invisible vs invincible—our medical workers are sure to win,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, after the online inauguration of the 25th Foundation Day of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) in Bengaluru.
Acknowledging that a mob mentality was leading to violence against the frontline workers, Modi reiterated that violence, abuse and rude behaviour were not acceptable. "We have taken steps to protect you from any form of violence. An insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh for the frontline workers has also been extended," he said.
Modi also lauded the Karnataka government for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which he called as the biggest global crisis after the two world wars.
"The pre- and post-COVID world will be different. At this crucial juncture, the world is looking up to the medical and scientific community with hope and gratitude. The world seeks both care and cure from you. At the root of India's brave fight against COVID-19 is the hard work of our medical community and our corona warriors. The doctors and medical workers are also like soldiers but without the uniform," said Modi, adding that the past debates on globalisation have focussed on economic issues, but it was time for the world to unite and focus on humanity-centric aspects of development.
The prime minister stated that his government, in the last six years, had taken many initiatives in health care and medical education, working broadly on four pillars: Preventive health care, affordable health care, upgrading medical education and infrastructure and mission-mode implementation of schemes.
"We have given importance to yoga, ayurveda and general fitness and now more than 40,000 wellness centres focussed on preventing lifestyle diseases have come up in the country. Our Swachch Bharat programme is also in that direction. The world’s largest health care scheme—Ayushman Bharat—belongs to India and in less than two years, 1 crore people have benefitted from it. The country has seen 22 new AIIMS coming up, and our target is to set up at least one medical college or PG institute in every district. Over the last five years, we have added 30,000 medical seats and 15,000 post graduation seats. The Medical Council of India has been replaced with National Medical Mission through an act passed by the Parliament, which aims at enhancing the quality of medical education," said Modi.
Modi said India is striving hard to eliminate tuberculosis by 2025, five years earlier than the global target of 2030. Referring to Mission Indradhanush, which has increased the vaccination coverage by four times and the new law that aims to expand the education of 50 allied medical professions to overcome shortage of paramedics, Modi stressed on the mission mode in implementation adopted by his government.
The prime minister urged the medical and scientific community to hold maximum discussion on three aspects: Advances in telemedicine, Make-in-India initiatives in the health sector and IT tools in health care.
"The initial gains in Make in India make me optimistic. Our domestic manufacturers have started production of PPEs and have supplied about 1 crore PPEs to COVID warriors. About 1.25 crore N95 masks were also given to each state. The IT tools and apps are crucial to tackle the challenges. Aarogya Setu app has been downloaded by 12 crore health-conscious people, which helped in our fight against COVID," said Modi.
