Assam: PM Modi dedicates to seven national cancer hospitals in  Dibrugarh today.

Prime Minister Modi dedicated to the nation seven cancer hospitals in Assam at a function in Dibrugarh today. These cancer Hospitals are built at Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Darrang, Tezpur, Lakhimpur, and Jorhat. Dibrugarh Hospital was dedicated to nation by the PM earlier in the day when he visited the premises of the new hospital.

PM Modi laid the foundation stone of seven new cancer hospitals at Dhubri, Nalbari, Goalpara, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Tinsukia and Golaghat to be constructed under phase 2 of the project. Governor of Assam Shri Jagdish Mukhi, Chief Minister of Assam Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Shri Rameswar Teli, Former CJI and Rajya Sabha member, Shri Ranjan Gogoi and noted industrialist Shri Ratan Tata were among those present on the occasion.

The Prime Minister began his remarks by appreciating the festive spirit of the season and paying tribute to Assam's wonderful sons and daughters. The Prime Minister stated that cancer hospitals in Assam that were dedicated to the country today, as well as others for which a foundation stone was placed today, will help to improve healthcare in the Northeast and South Asia.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that cancer has been a major problem not only in Assam but also in the North East, saying that "our poorest, middle-class families are the most impacted." Patients here had to go to big cities for cancer treatment until a few years ago, putting a heavy strain on poor and middle-class families.

Modi praised Assam Chief Minister Sarma, Union Minister Sonowal, and the Tata Trust for taking numerous initiatives to alleviate Assam's long-standing problem. PM Modi stated that the Prime Minister's Development Initiative for the North-East has been allocated 1500 crore rupees in this year's Budget (PM-DeVINE). Cancer treatment is also a focus area under the project, with a facility proposed for Guwahati.

Elaborating on the government’s vision for the healthcare sector, the PM talked about ‘Swasthya ke Saptrishisi’. The effort of the government is that disease itself does not arise. “That's why our government has given a lot of emphasis on Preventive Healthcare. The yoga, fitness related programs are going on for this reason”, he said. Second, if the disease occurs, it should be known in the early stages.

For this, lakhs of new testing centers are being built across the country. The third focus is that people should have better first aid facilities near their homes. For this primary health centers are being improved.

The fourth effort is that the poor should get free treatment in the best hospital. For this, under schemes like Ayushman Bharat, free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh is being given by the Government of India.

Our fifth focus is to minimize the dependence on big cities for good treatment. For this, our government is making unprecedented investments on health infrastructure. The Prime Minister explained that “before 2014, there were only 7 AIIMS in the country.

Out of these, except one in Delhi, there was no MBBS course or OPD, some of them were incomplete even. We rectified all these and declared 16 new AIIMS in the country. AIIMS Guwahati is also one of them.”

On the sixth point of the vision the Prime Minister said “our government is addressing the shortfall in the number of doctors. In the last seven years, more than 70 thousand new seats have been added for MBBS and PG. Our government is also treating more than 5 lakh Ayush doctors at par with allopathic doctors.”

The seventh focus of the government is digitization of health services. The effort of the government is to get rid of long lines for treatment, to get rid of the problems in the name of treatment. For this many schemes have been implemented,  Modi added.

PM Modi emphasized “the effort is that the citizens of the whole country can get the benefits of the schemes of the central government, anywhere in the country, there should be no restriction for that. This is the spirit of One Nation, One Health. This spirit gave strength to the country even in the biggest epidemic of 100 years, gave strength to deal with the challenge.”

The PM said that exorbitant cost of cancer treatment was a big barrier in the mind of people. Women particularly, avoided treatment as it had the potential of pushing family into debt and penury. Government is making cancer drugs affordable by reducing the cost of many medicines to almost half, saving at least 1000 crore rupees of the patients. More than 900 medicines are now available at affordable rates in Jan Aushadhi Kendras. Under Ayushman Bharat Schemes many beneficiaries are cancer patients.

The PM said Ayushman Bharat and Wellness centers are ensuring early detection of cancer cases. More than 15 crore people have undergone cancer screening in Wellness centres in Assam and other parts of the country. He also appreciated the Assam Government for improving medical infrastructure in the state. The Chief Minister and his team is working to admirably to implement national pledge of a medical college in every district, Prime Minister Modi said.

Assam Cancer Care Foundation, a joint venture of Government of Assam and Tata Trusts, is executing a project to build South Asia's largest affordable cancer care network. Out of 10 hospitals, the construction of seven hospitals have been completed while three hospitals are at various levels of construction.