NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said development under his government took place at a faster rate than what happened in the past six to seven decades.
Speaking after inaugurating Gujarat’s first All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and four others in Bathinda (Punjab), Raebareli (Uttar Pradesh), Kalyani (West Bengal), and Mangalagiri (Andhra Pradesh), the prime minister said, “Modi's guarantee begins from where hope ends from others.”
He also dedicated to the nation various development works costing Rs. 48,000 crores, including more than 200 healthcare infrastructure projects costing Rs. 11,500 crores in 23 states and Union Territories.
"For 50 years after Independence, there was only one AIIMS in the country, and that too in Delhi. In the seven decades since Independence, only seven AIIMS were approved but even these were never completed," he said.
“But in just 10 days, seven new AIIMS were either inaugurated or their foundation stones laid,” he added. Modi had earlier inaugurated AIIMS in Jammu and in Haryana.
“That's why I am saying that we are developing the country many times faster than what happened in the last six to seven decades and are dedicating it at the feet of the citizens," he said.
In the past, people from different states used to get tired of seeking AIIMS in their areas from the Union government, whereas today modern hospitals and medical facilities like AIIMS are opening one after the other, he added.
Asserting that he had fulfilled his guarantee of setting up a large number of AIIMS, PM Modi said his government had approved 10 AIIMS in the last 10 years.
"I had given a guarantee of (setting up) AIIMS to UP's Raebareli. The royal family of Congress only indulged in politics in Raebareli, while the work was done by Modi," he said.
India managed to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic because of changes in the healthcare system brought about in the last 10 years, the PM said.
"Today in Rajkot we got a glimpse of how the health sector of the world's fifth largest economy should be and what will be the level of health facilities in developed India," he said.
He said his government had carried out unprecedented expansion in AIIMS and medical colleges as well as critical infrastructure networks by opening more than one lakh 'Ayushman Arogya Mandirs' in villages and taking the number of medical colleges to 706 from 308-309 a decade back.
The number of MBBS and medical PG seats have increased during this period to more than one lakh and 70,000, respectively, from 50,000 and 30,000, he added.
The priority of his government was towards prevention of diseases by increasing the capacity to fight them, the PM said.
"We have focused on nutrition, Yoga, AYUSH, and cleanliness so that diseases can be prevented," he said.
Modi said the Ayushman Bharat scheme has helped the poor save Rs. 1 lakh crore, while medicines at 80 percent discount have helped the poor and the middle class save Rs. 30,000 crores.