Union Health Minister Mr. Mansukh Mandaviya on July 6 said the COVID-19 pandemic had highlighted gaps in the country's health infrastructure and and led to measures for bridging them.
Mr. Mandaviya said Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has decided to set up a critical care unit in every district of the country with an expenditure of ₹64,000 crore under National Health Infrastructure Mission.
He was talking to reporters after laying the foundation stone of a ‘Critical Care Health Block’ at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur.
Mr. Mandaviya said a lot of strides had been taken in the health sector under the leadership of Mr. Modi.
“We learnt a lot of things during COVID-19. The pandemic highlighted infrastructural gaps in the health sector of the country and how they can be bridged.”
“Then, Modi-ji decided that under the National Health Infrastructure Mission, a critical care unit will be started in every district of the country with an expenditure of ₹64,000 crore,” he said.
He said the critical care unit at the AIIMS in Raipur will be set up at a cost of ₹100 crore.
The unit would have more than 100 beds, oxygen and ventilator facilities for emergency as well as regular purposes, he said.
Mr. Mandaviya said more than 1,60,000 health and wellness centres were currently operational in the primary healthcare sector while work was under way to rapidly set up medical colleges in district hospitals for secondary healthcare.
As far as tertiary care was concerned, 16 out of 22 new AIIMS branches had been established so far, he said. .
The aim, the Minister said, was to invest an average of ₹100 crore in each of the 750 districts over the next four years under the National Health Infrastructure Mission.
He interacted with the faculty and students of the AIIMS, Raipur, and encouraged them to focus on research and innovation in the health sector.
