All have right to good healthcare; nations must ensure it: Adityanath

Agra (UP), Mar 7 (PTI) Every person has the right to good healthcare, and every sovereign nation must ensure such facilities for its citizens, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating a private hospital here, Adityanath said healthcare services should be affordable, reliable and accessible, and stressed that the sector should remain a top priority for governments.

Earlier in the day, the chief minister also attended a coordination meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Agra, which was closed to outsiders.

According to a statement, Adityanath was speaking after inaugurating a private hospital in the Sikandra area of the city.

"Every person has the right to good healthcare, and every sovereign nation must ensure such facilities for its citizens," he said, adding that India has gained a new identity globally under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the past 11 years.

He said the country is witnessing the rise of a "new India", emerging as the world's third-largest economy while simultaneously promoting heritage and development.

Highlighting infrastructure development, the chief minister said highways, expressways, metro networks, new railway lines and modern trains such as Vande Bharat, Amrit Bharat and Namo Bharat reflect the country's rapid transformation.

Adityanath said when the government, society and institutions work together in a common direction, the results multiply, and trust is built. "Trust is our biggest capital, and Uttar Pradesh has emerged as a symbol of that trust," he said.

The chief minister said the government is making efforts to strengthen healthcare facilities but added that private investment in the sector is also necessary to ensure healthy competition and improved services.

He said the state government is bringing a new policy to encourage private investment in super-speciality hospitals and is also extending support for the establishment of new medical colleges.

Adityanath said that earlier, the country had only one All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which increased to seven during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and has now reached 23 under the present dispensation.

Two of these institutes are located in Uttar Pradesh, in Gorakhpur and Rae Bareli, he added.

The chief minister said that before 2017, the state had only 17 medical colleges, but their number has now increased to 81 in the past nine years.

"Earlier there was 'one district, one mafia', but today we have 'one district, one medical college'," he said.

Adityanath said around 5.8 crore people in the state have been issued "golden cards" under government health insurance schemes, and the number is expected to rise to 10 crore in the coming years.

He added that Rs 1,300 crore has been provided from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to assist residents with medical treatment.

The chief minister said centres of excellence in medical technology are being developed at IIT Kanpur and SGPGI in Lucknow, while a 1,500-acre pharma park is being developed in Lalitpur to promote domestic production of medicines.

A medical device park is also being established on 350 acres along the Yamuna Expressway to encourage manufacturing of medical equipment in the state, he said.

Adityanath said coordinated efforts after his government assumed office helped eliminate encephalitis in eastern Uttar Pradesh, a disease that had claimed more than 50,000 lives over four decades. PTI COR KIS PRK