Healthcare a priority, says PM Modi

Mohali: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said holistic health care has been a priority in the country for the past eight years and more work has been done in this field than the last seven decades.

Modi said this after inaugurating 300-bed Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre at Mohali's Mullanpur on outskirts of Chandigarh. The facility has been built at a cost of over Rs 660 crore by Tata Memorial Centre, an aided institute under the Union Department of Atomic Energy.

Addressing the gathering, Modi stressed that prevention is better than cure and good health care does not mean building four walls only. In the past eight years, holistic health care has been given a priority, the PM said. He said before 2014, there were less than 400 medical colleges in the country and in the past eight years 200 new colleges have been opened. More work has been done in health care in seven or eight years than over 70 years, he claimed.

Reaching out to cancer patients and their families, Modi said, "We don't need to be scared of cancer, but we have to fight it, it's treatment is possible and I know many people who have defeated cancer and are living normal lives". Whatever is needed for this fight, the Union government is making available, he said. In Himachal Pradesh's Bilaspur, an AIIMS has been built and over here a big facility for cancer treatment is available now, he said, adding these facilities will help take load off the PGIMER.

Over 1.50 lakh health and wellness centres are being set up in the country, of which 1.25 lakh have already started functioning, he said. In Punjab too, nearly 3,000 health and wellness centres are providing services, he said.