Government transforming health infra for New India: Modi
New Delhi, June 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said his government is transforming the country's health infrastructure that is fit for "New India".
Speaking after inaugurating five projects worth Rs 1,700 crore at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital, Modi said: The government is building a suitable health infrastructure across the country for a New India that will have quality and adequate hospitals, more beds, better facilities and best doctors."
"The health sector in the country has got a new direction with major policy interventions by the government in the last four years. The Centre with the help of states is putting up an advanced health infrastructure in the country including in tier 2 and tier 3 cities," he said.
The Prime Minister said his government wants to provide quality healthcare to the citizens at lowest possible cost as the burden of disease is the major cause of poverty. For this, his government has initiated more AIIMS-like hospitals in the last four years than done in the last 70 years, he said.
"Thirteen new AIIMS have been announced in the last four year, of which work has started on eight of them. Apart from this, construction of super-specialty hospitals at 15 medical colleges across the country is underway," he said.
"New avenues for medical education are being introduced. Our government is upgrading hospitals as medical colleges in 58 districts. In this budget, the government announced setting up of 24 new medical colleges. We aim to have at least one medical college in three Lok Sabha seats."
The Prime Minister said about 25,000 new under-graduate and graduate seats have been added in medical colleges in the last four years.
Earlier, Modi laid the foundation stone for National Centre for Ageing, and inaugurated the underground tunnel between AIIMS and Trauma Centre and Power Grid Vishram Sadan at AIIMS. He also inaugurated new emergency and super-specialty blocks at Safdarjung Hospital.
"Facilities at Safdarjung Hospital have been made more advanced with an investment of over Rs 1,300 crore. A super-specialty block and an emergency block have been dedicated to the nation. Safdarjung Hospital has become the country's biggest emergency care hospital with 500-bed capacity just for medical emergency," he said.
The National Centre for Ageing will provide state of art clinical care to the elderly population and play a key role in guiding research in geriatric medicine and related specialties. The Centre will provide multi-specialty healthcare, will have 200 general ward beds and will be developed at a cost of Rs 330 crore by February 2020.
The 997-meter tunnel, to be built at a cost of Rs 44 crore to connect AIIMS and Jai Prakash Narayan Apex (JPNA) Trauma Centre, will significantly reduce the commute time.
The Power Grid Vishram Sadan, built at a cost of Rs 32.67 crore, has a 300-bedded night shelter facility meant for the patients and their relatives visiting AIIMS and Trauma Centre at a nominal cost. The 11-floor facility with a helipad on the roof for heli-ambulances is funded by the state-run Power Grid Corporation.
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Woman died post delivery after Pune hospital refused admission over Rs 10 lakh deposit
Mumbai (PTI): BJP MLC Amit Gorkhe on Thursday claimed a Pune-based hospital refused to admit the pregnant wife of his personal secretary due to non-payment of advance deposit of Rs 10 lakh.
The woman, Tanisha Bhise, later died at another hospital after giving birth to twins, he said in a video message.
Her husband Sushant works as a personal secretary to Gorkhe.
The hospital refuted the allegations and blamed the woman's kin for giving "misleading information".
"Despite an assurance to pay Rs 3 lakh immediately, the hospital denied admission to the patient. Even a call was made from Mantralaya to the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, but it did not yield any response from the hospital," Gorkhe alleged.
"The woman was later taken to another hospital, where she gave birth to twin girls but passed away. This is a serious issue. I request the chief minister to take strict action against the hospital. I will also raise this matter in the upcoming legislative session," Gorkhe said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare also took to social media and asserted the hospital sought Rs 10 lakh as deposit despite the woman's kin agreeing to arrange Rs 2.5 lakh immediately and the rest in a short period.
"Even after a call from Mantralaya, the hospital did not change its stand. The patient had to be shifted to another hospital, where she delivered twins but did not survive. Had the hospital administration shown some humanitarian consideration, Tanisha Bhise might have been alive today," Andhare stated.
BJP leader and MLC Chitra Wagh also criticised the hospital's action and sought strict action, including revoking licences of doctors or hospitals found guilty of such behaviour.
"If this is the treatment meted out to someone close to a legislator, one can only imagine the plight of ordinary patients," Wagh said.
Wagh in her post on X said, "The doctors were supposed to offer support to the woman but they showed their commercial interest only. If such type of treatment is offered by the hospitals operated by charitable trusts, then the doctor's license should be cancelled and hospital should be closed. One strong step would give a message to others who practice in such way."
The hospital, meanwhile, refuted the allegations and blamed the woman's kin for giving "misleading information".
"We will prepare a detailed report about the incident and will submit it to the health department of the state. The report will have detailed medical information about the incident which was concealed by the kin of the deceased woman,” said Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital medical director Dr Dhananjay Kelkar said.
