Health Minister Mandaviya says 'Centre has stood by states throughout COVID-19 pandemic'

On Tuesday, the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the Centre has stood by states throughout the coronavirus pandemic, and emergency packages have played a huge role in mounting a sturdy public response to COVID-19. Mandaviya was speaking at an event where he dedicated an AYUSH building and night shelter at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Jharkhand's Deoghar district and inaugurated an outdoor patient department (OPD) services at the new building, according to a health ministry statement. He said that the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana addresses the regional imbalance in tertiary medical care and provides quality medical education in under-served states.

AIIMS in Jharkhand to serve 15 lakh residents of Deoghar 

He also noted that people could avail themselves of the best of medical facilities in Deogarh and asserted that the foundation stone of the institute was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 25, 2018, according to the statement. The institute will serve the 15 lakh residents of Deoghar and the 3.19 crore people of Jharkhand, Mandaviya said.

"People coming from faraway places can stay at the night shelter and complete their treatment," he said.

The Union Health Minister took the opportunity to point out that the Centre, under the leadership of PM Modi, has stood by states throughout the pandemic, the statement said. Mandaviya said that the ECRP-1 and ECRP-II (Emergency COVID19 Response Package) have played a huge role in mounting a sturdy public health response to COVID-19.

"The Centre has helped Jharkhand in every possible way in its fight against the pandemic", he said.

Citing the concept of 'Antyodaya' - serving the last citizen in society - as propounded by Deendayal Upadhyaya, he said this was the guiding principle of the Ministry's efforts to implement the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.

Mansukh Mandaviya further noted that AIIMS in Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Raipur, Patna, Jodhpur and Rishikesh are fully functional.

The OPD facilities in AIIMS, Deoghar, will include medicine and its allied specialities general medicine and pulmonology (tuberculosis and respiratory diseases), psychiatry, dermatology, surgery and allied its specialities general surgery and orthopaedics, ENT, ophthalmology, paediatrics-vaccination of infants and children, obstetrics and gynaecology, dentistry, pathology and microbiology, radiology, the statement said.

(WITH PTI INPUTS)

Image Credit: PTI