PM to inaugurate 9 new medical colleges on his visit to UP today

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Uttar Pradesh on Monday, October 25, 2021, to inaugurate the Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana in Varanasi. In addition, he will open nine medical colleges in the state.

PM Modi will inaugurate several development projects worth more than Rs 5200 crore for Varanasi, according to a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). ‘Prime Minister Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PMASBY) will be one of the largest pan-India schemes for strengthening healthcare infrastructure across the country. It will be in addition to the National Health Mission,’ said PMO.

The goal of PMASBY, according to the press release, is to fill in significant gaps in public health infrastructure, particularly in critical care and primary care facilities in both urban and rural locations. In the ten High Focus States, it will fund 17,788 rural Health and Wellness Centers. In addition, in all states, 11,024 urban Health and Wellness Centers will be constructed.

Through Exclusive Critical Care Hospital Blocks, critical care services would be offered in all districts of the country with a population of more than 5 lakh people, while the remaining districts will be served through referral services. Through a network of laboratories across the country, people will have access to a comprehensive spectrum of diagnostic services in the Public Healthcare system. In all of the districts, Integrated Public Health Labs will be established.

PMASBY will establish a National Institution for One Health, four new national institutes of virology, a regional research platform for the WHO South-East Asia Region, nine biosafety level III laboratories, and five new regional national centres for disease control.

Read also: Mumbai man held for calling police control room, abusing women personnel

PMASBY aims to create an IT-enabled disease surveillance system in Metropolitan areas by establishing a network of surveillance laboratories at the block, district, regional, and national levels. To connect all public health labs, the Integrated Health Information Portal will be expanded to all states/UTs. It also seeks to operationalize 17 new Public Health Units at Points of Entry, as well as enhance 33 existing Public Health Units, in order to detect, investigate, prevent, and combat Public Health Emergencies and Disease Outbreaks more efficiently. It will also seek to develop a frontline health workforce that is trained to respond to any public health emergency.

In the districts of Siddharthnagar, Etah, Hardoi, Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Deoria, Ghazipur, Mirzapur, and Jaunpur, nine medical institutions will be inaugurated. Eight medical colleges have been approved under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for ‘Establishment of new medical colleges affiliated to district/ referral hospitals,’ while the State Government has made one medical college in Jaunpur operational with its own funds.

Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, underserved, backward, and aspirational districts are given priority. The scheme intends to expand the availability of health professionals, correct the existing geographical imbalance in the distribution of medical colleges, and make better use of the district hospital infrastructure. 157 new medical colleges have been approved across the country as part of the Scheme’s three phases, with 63 of them already operational.

Anandiben Patel, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will all be in attendance.