Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar virtually addressed the “FICCI Healthcare Excellence Awards” ceremony from Nirman Bhawan, today.
The Union Minister started her address by thanking the dignitaries present at the event and expressing her appreciation for FICCIfor contributing immensely to the Covid19 response in close coordinationwith the Empowered Groups, central and state governments.She also expressed her admiration for the contributions FICCI has made in bringing about various transformations and developments in the healthcare sector.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Pawar said that a “great responsibility lies on us to achieve the Prime Minister’s dream of achieving affordable, accessible, safe and modern healthcare in India.” She further said that “the Government of India launched various nationwide programs for prevention, control and eradication of communicable and non-communicable diseases and improvement of maternal and child health”
The Minister highlighted that in working towards the goal of achieving universal health coverage, the government launched the world’s largest public funded healthcare program, the ‘Ayushman Bharat Mission’. She added that the scheme has been expanded to include the Digital Health Mission that aims to converge the various components of healthcare ecosystem on one platform for seamless integration and better healthcare outcomes.
Dr Pawar informed that“the government has also launched numerous financial support schemes over the past couple of years for creating the appropriate environment for growth as well as augmenting public-private infrastructure of hospitals, public funded labs across the country. The National Medical Commission and the Paramedics Council have been key achievements in the field of medical education.”
The Minister also informed that India’s healthcare outcome indicators have shown consistent improvement in the past decade. She noted that “relentless efforts of the Central Government have resulted in launching of various nationwide programs for prevention, control and eradication of communicable and non-communicable diseases and improvement of maternal and child health.”
Detailing the success in the front of challenges posed by COVID19, the Union Minister highlighted that more than 99 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country and the government has set a target of vaccinating the country’s entire adult population by end of the year. She also informed the audience that under the “Make in India” initiative of the Honourable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, presently, “India is one of the leading countries in global medical devices market in the world.”
Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar ended her address by thanking FICCI and other dignitariesfor their contribution to healthcare in India and assured them of her government’s steadfast support in their activities.