'India seen as leader in health sector for its Covid handling'
Darpan News Desk IANS, 29 Mar, 2022 10:47 AM
New Delhi, March 29 (IANS) Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said other countries of the world look at India as a leader in the health sector after "we handled the Covid-19 pandemic so efficiently under the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi".
In response to a question on the development of healthcare facilities in the country, the Health Minister said the Central and the state governments need to work together in the health sector.
Replying to another query on states receiving more authority to deal with disease outbreaks, the Health Minister said the House that even though Health was a state subject, there was no gap in between the Centre and the states while tackling issues in the health sector.
Answering a question of Trinamool Congress MP Derek O' Brien who asked questions about the medical bills of ex-servicemen, Mandaviya said that the government is committed towards the welfare of the ex-servicemen and always ready to provide services to those with Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) cards.
He also said that earlier the CGHS facility was provided to 75 cities in the country which has increased to 81 cities now.
Responding to the question of Samajwadi Party Member Rewati Raman Singh, the Minister of State, Health, Bharati Pawar said that altogether, 22 All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) are being set up in the country.
Out of 10 proposed in the first phase, six have started functioning with all departments.
"Over 15,000 patients are being examined at these six AIIMS, over seven thousand major and minor surgeries have been doing in these AIIMS while the OPD facility in another 10 AIIMS will start soon", Pawar said.
Replying to the question of DMK MP T Siva about the new AIIMS proposed in Tamil Nadu, she told the House that the site has been earmarked in Madurai.
"This AIIMS is being built with the funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency and the appointment of the Project Management Consultant has also been appointed."
She said that the land for AIIMS in Darbhanga has been finalised by the state government and the work on the building will start soon.
Regretting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to cancel his scheduled visit to Ferozepur midway, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said on Wednesday that there was no security lapse that led to the cancellation of the Prime Ministers visit to the bordering town.
Holding the Punjab government squarely responsible for the "gross security lapse" during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab, that eventually led to cancellation of all his programmes, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday demanded dismissal of the government and imposition of President's rule.
With the spike in Covid-19 cases, Punjab on Tuesday imposed statewide night curfew daily from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and ordered closure of all educational institutions till January 15.
The accused, identified as Ashish Kumar, tied his wife Ranjan Devi and son Vaibhav to the bed and set them on fire at his house in Mayurwa locality, which comes under the Triveniganj police station.
Nearly 100 students and resident doctors of the Government Medical College in Patiala in Punjab have tested positive for Covid-19, officials said on Tuesday. A retirement party and New Year Eve's party held on the college campus without following appropriate Covid-19 behaviour is blamed for alarming spike in the cases.
With 192 new cases of highly transmissible Covid variant Omicron detected in the last 24 hours, India's Omicron tally on Tuesday rose to 1,892 cases. Maharashtra and Delhi continue to be the worst-hit states with this new variant.
