PM Modi to launch multiple health projects, distribute 51,000 appointment letters on Oct 29

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch development projects worth nearly Rs 12,850 crore on Tuesday and also extend his government's flagship health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above.

Modi has chosen to unveil the major health sector push on the occasion of the ninth Ayurveda Day and the birth anniversary of Dhanvantari, considered the god of medicine.

At a separate event, he will also distribute more than 51,000 appointment letters to the youth as part of his government's 'Rozgar Mela', an official statement said.

Noting that it has been the constant endeavour of the prime minister to provide quality healthcare services in the country, another statement said Modi will inaugurate Phase II of India's first All India Institute of Ayurveda in the national capital.

It includes a Panchakarma hospital, an ayurvedic pharmacy for drug manufacturing, a sports medicine unit, a central library, an IT and start-ups incubation centre and a 500-seat auditorium among others.

He will also inaugurate three medical colleges at Mandsaur, Neemuch and Seoni in Madhya Pradesh.

Further, the prime minister will inaugurate facility and service extensions at various AIIMS -- Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh, Kalyani in West Bengal, Patna in Bihar, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Guwahati in Assam and in New Delhi -- which will also include a Jan Aushadhi Kendra.

He will also lay the foundation stones of five nursing colleges in Shivpuri, Ratlam, Khandwa, Rajgarh and Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, 21 critical care blocks at Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Manipur, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan under Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), and several facilities and service extensions at AIIMS in New Delhi and in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh.

Among other projects, he will inaugurate an ESIC hospital at Indore in Madhya Pradesh and lay the foundation stone for ESIC hospitals at Faridabad in Haryana, Bommasandra and Narasapur in Karnataka, Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, and Atchutapuram in Andhra Pradesh. These projects will bring healthcare benefits to around 55 lakh ESI beneficiaries.

In an innovative usage of drone technology to enhance service delivery and make healthcare more accessible, Modi will launch drone services at 11 tertiary healthcare institutions.

These are AIIMS Rishikesh in Uttarakhand, AIIMS Bibinagar in Telangana, AIIMS Guwahati in Assam, AIIMS Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, AIIMS Jodhpur in Rajasthan, AIIMS Patna in Bihar, AIIMS Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh, AIIMS Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, AIIMS Raipur in Chhattisgarh, AIIMS Mangalagiri in Andhra Pradesh and RIMS Imphal in Manipur.

He will launch a helicopter emergency medical service from AIIMS Rishikesh, which will help deliver medical care speedily.

The prime minister will also launch the U-WIN portal that seeks to benefit pregnant women and infants by fully digitalizing the vaccination process.

Among many other projects whose foundation stones will be laid are one central research institute in yoga and naturopathy each at Khordha in Odisha and Raipur in Chhattisgarh and four centres of excellence at NIPER Ahmedabad in Gujarat for medical devices, NIPER Hyderabad in Telangana for bulk drugs, NIPER Guwahati in Assam for phytopharmaceuticals, and NIPER Mohali in Punjab for anti-bacterial anti-viral drug discovery and development.

In a major boost to the Make in India initiative in the healthcare sector, the prime minister will inaugurate five projects under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for medical devices and bulk drugs at Vapi in Gujarat, Hyderabad in Telangana, Bengaluru in Karnataka, Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh, the statement said.

These units will manufacture high-end medical devices, such as body implants and critical care equipment, along with important bulk drugs.