Agra, March 7 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said the government is working on a policy to encourage private investment in setting up super speciality hospitals and in supporting the opening of new private medical colleges in the state.​

“We have already relaxed the policy to encourage the opening of more private hospitals. We now want the private sector to augment government efforts in expanding the number of medical colleges,” he said while inaugurating a private hospital in Agra.​

Adityanath said that when the government, society, and institutions begin to think in one direction, the outcome becomes trust. “Today, Uttar Pradesh has emerged as a symbol of that very trust,” he said.​

He said the BJP government is also working to ensure that medical equipment and medicines consumed in the state are produced here itself.​

Adityanath said that, for this, a pharma park and a medical device park are being planned in Lalitpur on 1,500 acres, and in the Yamuna Expressway area, close to Agra, on 350 acres.​

“Two centres of excellence for med tech are also being set up at IIT-Kanpur and Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences,” he said.​

Healthcare, he noted, is an essential requirement for every individual, and citizens naturally expect quality treatment and reliable medical facilities. While the government is making continuous efforts in this direction, he said that private-sector participation is also crucial for expanding the reach of quality healthcare services.​

Adityanath also highlighted his government’s achievement in eradicating encephalitis from East Uttar Pradesh, while, under the previous government, the disease had become a curse.​

“The previous government has the mentality of promoting ‘one district, one mafia’ but we, with the help of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, worked as a double-engine and achieved ‘one district, one medical college’,” said the Chief Minister.​

Hitting out at the previous Samajwadi Party government, Adityanath said, “Their vision was limited to promoting mafia, and they did that. We had the vision of improving health services, so we opened more medical colleges.”​

Highlighting progress in the health sector, the Chief Minister said that until 2014, only six AIIMS institutions were operational in the country, whereas today 23 world-class AIIMS institutions are functioning across India.​

In Uttar Pradesh, there were only 17 medical colleges until 2017. However, under the ‘One District, One Medical College’ policy, nearly 81 medical colleges are now operational or under construction across the state’s 75 districts. Two AIIMS at Gorakhpur and Raebareli are in addition to these medical colleges.​

“Free dialysis facilities and CT scan services are available in every district of the state. Along with providing other medical facilities, we have also initiated efforts to bring the latest technologies available in the medical field worldwide to our state,” he said, apart from the facilities of telemedicine.​

The Chief Minister said that the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, launched by PM Modi, has emerged as one of the largest healthcare schemes in the country and is benefiting nearly 60 crore people across the nation.​

In Uttar Pradesh alone, more than 5.7 crore Golden Cards have been issued so far, enabling beneficiaries to avail free medical treatment up to Rs 5 lakh under the scheme. “Apart from this, I have released Rs 1,300 crore for treatment of the needy from the Chief Minister’s Fund,” he said.​

In the state, the double-engine government has implemented welfare schemes alongside development, through which more than 6 crore people have risen above the poverty line and are leading normal lives, he said.​

–IANS

rch/dan