Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Guwahati and announced three other medical colleges in Assam during his one-day visit to the state on the occasion of ‘Rongali Bihu’.
He also laid the foundation stone of the Assam Advanced Health Care Innovation Institute (AAHII) at IIT-Guwahati, and launched a healthcare scheme to provide free medical treatment worth Rs. 5 lakh each year to 11 million beneficiaries.
The three medical colleges at Nalbari, Nagaon and Kokrajhar have been built at a cost of around Rs. 615 crore, Rs. 600 crore and Rs. 535 crore, respectively.
The AIIMS campus, built at a cost of Rs. 1,123 crore, is a one-of-a-kind healthcare facility in the entire northeastern region. It will have an annual intake capacity of 100 medical students every year. The foundation stone for the institute was laid by PM Modi in 2017.
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The prime minister distributed Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) cards to three representative beneficiaries, followed by the distribution of about 11 million AB-PMJAY cards in all districts.
{{/usCountry}}The prime minister distributed Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) cards to three representative beneficiaries, followed by the distribution of about 11 million AB-PMJAY cards in all districts.
{{/usCountry}}The PM listed the initiatives taken by the Centre in the healthcare sector over the past nine years, and blamed the previous governments for “failing to open units of AIIMS across the country”.
“In the past nine years, there has been a lot of discussion on the improvement of communication infrastructure in the northeast. Along with that, there has been an amazing improvement in social infrastructure as well, both in the education and health sectors,” he said.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who was also present at the event along with other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders praised the prime minister for development projects in the state.
“We are trying to fulfil the PM’s goal of having a medical college in each district. Today, the state got three new ones taking that tally to 12. In the next 3-4 years, we will take that figure to 23 medical colleges in Assam,” Sarma said at the event.
Addressing the public event, Modi later took a swipe at opposition parties and accused them of “feeling uneasy” whenever he talks about development that has taken place across the nation since the BJP-led government came to power at the Centre in 2014.
“These days, we are noticing a new disease. Whenever I discuss the development that has taken place in the past nine years, some people feel very uneasy. They complain that they have also ruled the country for decades, but they don’t get credit,” Modi said at the event held at Changsari on the outskirts of Guwahati.
“Hunger for credit and the mentality of ruling the masses has negatively impacted the country a lot. Those who ruled earlier thought of the Northeast as a faraway place and created a sense of alienation. We work with a sense of selfless service and dedication for the masses,” he added.
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Later in the day, the PM will take part in the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Gauhati high court. In the evening, he will attend a Bihu dance performance by over 10,000 participants.
Sarma had said that it’s his government’s aim to “organise the largest Bihu dance performance at a single venue and make it to the Guinness Book of World Records in the folk-dance category”.