In a significant development in the field of healthcare infrastructure, the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation various projects worth more than Rs. 3,400 crores in Guwahati, Assam, today. The event marked the inauguration of AIIMS Guwahati and three other medical colleges, which would help boost the medical infrastructure of Assam and the Northeast. The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of Assam Advanced Health Care Innovation Institute (AAHII) and launched ‘Aapke Dwar Ayushman’ campaign by distributing Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) cards to eligible beneficiaries.
The healthcare infrastructure of the Northeast region has received a significant boost as Assam gets its first AIIMS and three new medical colleges. The Prime Minister remarked that this development project will benefit not only Assam but also the neighbouring states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, and Mizoram. The Prime Minister also congratulated everyone for the successful completion of the projects.
The Northeast has seen a visible improvement in the road, rail, and airport infrastructure in the last 8-9 years. With the addition of physical infrastructure, social infrastructure has also received a massive boost as education and health facilities have been expanded unprecedentedly. The Prime Minister’s efforts to enhance connectivity in the Northeast are evident from the establishment of AIIMS and medical colleges. The support for medical facilities and in turn to patients from ever-improving rail-road connectivity in the region is also noteworthy.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that development becomes impossible when the politics of dynasty, regionalism, corruption, and instability start to dominate. Despite the initiation of the process during the time of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, efforts to open AIIMS in other parts of the country did not move in subsequent years, and only after 2014, these issues were addressed by the present government. In recent years the government started work on 15 AIIMS, and treatments and courses have already begun in most of them.
The Prime Minister reiterated that the policies of the previous governments created a scarcity of doctors and medical professionals in the nation and erected a wall before quality health service. In the last 9 years, the government has worked on a vast scale to boost medical infrastructure and medical professionals in the country. Highlighting the developments in the field of medical infrastructure, the Prime Minister informed that approximately 300 medical colleges became functional in the last 9 years, while the PG seats have seen a rise of 110 percent.
The Prime Minister’s solid work in the medical and healthcare field is credited to a service-oriented belief, which makes the Northeast very approachable, and the feeling of proximity never ceases. With the establishment of the National Medical Commission for the expansion of medical education in the country, the Prime Minister underlined that reservations have also been ensured so that youth from backward families can fulfill their dreams of becoming doctors. The Prime Minister informed that more than 150 nursing colleges have also been declared as part of this year’s Budget. In the Northeast, the number of medical colleges in the region along with the number of seats has doubled in the last 9 years, while work is underway for several new ones.
