Union govt. is committed to making quality health care affordable to all: Jitendra Singh

The Union government is committed to the aim of making quality health care affordable and accessible to all and schemes like Prime Minister’s Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), Ayushman Bharat-Prime Minister’s Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY) and new AIIMS-like institutions across the nation were all part of the larger goal of bridging the huge urban-rural divide in healthcare provision, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh, said here .

The Union government is committed to the aim of making quality health care affordable and accessible to all and schemes like Prime Minister’s Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), Ayushman Bharat-Prime Minister’s Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPMJAY) and new AIIMS-like institutions across the nation were all part of the larger goal of bridging the huge urban-rural divide in healthcare provision, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh, said here .

Dr. Singh was inaugurating the new ₹230 crore PMSSY block of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology here on Thursday, which marks a significant step in the infrastructure expansion of the Institute, which is one of the foremost cardio-neuro speciality centres in the country.

If through PMSSY the government intended to upgrade tertiary care facilities across the country to provide high-end care to people, through AB-PMJAY, the world’s largest health insurance scheme which covered even pre-existed illnesses, the common man was being assured accessibility to care.

He said that SCTIMST, where provision of excellent and affordable clinical services, indigenous biomedical innovations and research and development worked in perfect synergy, was a pride possession of the Department of Science and Technology and a role model that other institutions should look up to.

The PMSSY project of the Union Ministry of Health, being granted to SCTIMST for providing the best of cardio and neuro care to the masses was the perfect example of the integration that Prime Minister Modi has been advocating, Dr. Singh said.

Dr. Singh suggested that SCTIMST should work more closely with the Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology and that it was well-placed to play a key role in advancing the Indian biomedical manufacturing industry, which has seen significant growth in recent times

Dr. Jitendra Singh also suggested that it might be better for the Institute to strategically focus on one speciality, Neurology in particular, so that it can create a global identity.