E-Paper
Cong leaders made money in garb of improving medical education: Shah in Gujarat
The Congress rejected Shah’s allegations and said public health care in Gujarat has deteriorated under the Bharatiya Janata Party’s rule
Health care facilities in India improved under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whereas Congress leaders “made money” in the name of improving medical education facilities when they were in power prior to 2014, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday.
“Under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, 60 crore poor people of the country are covered. They are getting free treatment of up to ₹5 lakh. Before this, many poor elderly people could not afford expensive treatment,” shah said. “PM Modi has also allocated ₹64,000 crore to set up the required health infrastructure to implement that scheme. 35,000 new beds were added in hospitals across 600 districts under this scheme.”
The government plans to start integrated public health laboratories in 730 districts and a budget of ₹1,600 crore has been allocated to start research centres, he added.
Shah, who is on a two-day visit to his home state of Gujarat, attended seven events in his parliamentary constituency of Gandhinagar. He laid the foundation stone of 150-bed hospital managed under Kamdar Vima Yojana and performed ground breaking of 750-bed Adarsh Multi Specialty Hospital managed by Umia Mata Kadwa Patidar Education Trust at Kalol in Gandhinagar district.
“What is the use of such infrastructure facilities if there are no doctors in hospitals? During the Congress rule, leaders were busy making money in the name of improving medical education facilities. It was PM Modi who changed this scenario after assuming office,” he said.
In the next two years, modern health services will be available at the doorsteps to the citizens of Kalol and surrounding areas, Shah said in his address.
Shah, while comparing the performance and planning of previous governments, said that in 2013-14, there were only 387 medical colleges in India. In 2021-22, there are 600 medical colleges. “Eight years ago, there were 51,348 MBBS seats in India. This has increased to 89,875 in the year 2021-22,” shah said. “The seats for postgraduation medical studies of the degrees like MD and MS have also increased from 31,185 to 60,202.”
“Medical science services have doubled in just eight years as compared to the 75 years of medical science facilities,” he added. “Ten new AIIMS hospitals are coming up in the near future. And the plan to create 22 new AIIMS will be announced soon.”
Stating that health services have improved significantly in Gujarat, Shah said due to the efforts of the state government, there has been significant improvement in institutional delivery, infant mortality and maternal mortality.
The Congress rejected Shah’s allegations and said public health care in Gujarat has deteriorated under the Bharatiya Janata Party’s rule.
“In the last 20 years under BJP’s rule in Gujarat, only one community health centre has been opened and 14 primary health centres have been shut down,” said Manish Doshi, a Gujarat Congress spokesperson. “Many government hospitals that were set up during Congress’ rule in Gujarat have been privatized under BJP’s rule.”
“Gujarat ranks 14th in health care expenditure among all Indian states,” Doshi said. “We have seen how the health care system of the state crumbled during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.”
