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Students should be able to study medicine in India, needn’t go abroad: Amit Shah
Amit Shah said that instead of going abroad for medical studies, there should be adequate facilities within country for Indian students, speaking at inauguration of PMCH in Guwahati, Assam
Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that instead of going abroad for medical studies, there should be adequate facilities within the country for Indian students to pursue such courses.
Addressing the inaugural event of the Pragjyotishpur Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) in Guwahati, Shah said, “Indian students go to countries like Russia and Ukraine, and several small nations to pursue medical studies and sometimes come back leaving their courses mid-way and treat patients here.”
“Therefore it’s very important to have adequate facilities within our country for medical studies and research infrastructure available where students can study and treat patients not just in India but across the world,” he added.
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Shah, who arrived in Guwahati on Saturday evening and took part in meetings with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office-bearers, inaugurated and laid foundation stones for eight projects worth ₹2,092 crore at the event on Sunday.
Besides PMCH, which was built at a cost of ₹675 crore, the Union home minister virtually inaugurated two cancer centres at Golaghat and Tinsukia, both of which were built at a cost of ₹135 crore each.
He laid the foundation stones for three super-speciality hospitals at Diphu, Jorhat and Barpeta, a ‘swasthya bhawan’ (headquarters of the health department) in Guwahati and a district hospital at Abhayapuri — all to be built at an estimated cost of ₹1,147 crore.
“It is praiseworthy that so many health-related projects have been launched and foundation stones laid for others in just one day. Assam is on its way to becoming self-reliant in health facilities so that no patient has to leave the state for treatment,” said Shah, adding that the present infrastructure of medical studies and healthcare in the state was comparable to that of several top states.
The Union home minister accused the previous Indian National Congress government in Assam, which ruled for 15 years from 2001 to 2016, of siphoning away ₹150 crore each year in the guise of treatment of 900,000 fictitious children.
“Over 900,000 children who were not even born were allegedly treated, money meant to construct 390 ‘anganwadi’ centres was taken away without them even getting built and even money sent by Centre for nourishment of poor children was siphoned by Congress,” Shah alleged.
“In contrast, during BJP rule the annual health budget for Assam, which was ₹4,000 crore earlier, has increased to ₹9,000 crore and we have ensured that the benefits of all services reach the grassroots,” he said.
Shah informed that the number of medical colleges in the state, which was just six in 2016 when BJP came to power in Assam for the first time, has now increased to 14 and in the coming years the figure will reach 24. He stated that the number of cancer hospitals in the state has increased from two to 14 in the same duration.
The Union home minister said that the maternal mortality rate in the state has gone down from 304 earlier to 105 at present (per 100,000 live births) and the infant mortality rate has decreased from 56 (per 1,000 live births under one year of age) to 30.
In his speech, Shah accused the Congress of hurting the country’s image when the party’s workers protested at the recently concluded AI Summit in New Delhi by ripping their clothes.
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“We have also remained in opposition and held protests, but they have a specific location. You used the AI Summit to showcase your politics by such ugly protest. I would like to tell Rahul Gandhi that in its bid to oppose Narendra Modi and the BJP, you have protested against the country itself,” said Shah, blaming the party for failing to apologise for the incident.
In the afternoon, Shah will address a meeting of youth members of the BJP in Guwahati before departing from the state.
