Shillong: Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for health and family welfare, on Wednesday virtually inaugurated a workshop to promote accessible healthcare in the Northeast Indian region. Bharati Pravin Pawar, union minister of state for health and family welfare and Ampareen Lyngdoh, Meghalaya's minister of health and family welfare were also present.

The workshop, titled 'Regional Consultative Workshop on Research Priority for Providing Accessible and Affordable Healthcare for the Northeastern States of India' is being jointly organized by the department of health research, Indian Institute of Public Health, Shillong and Indian Council of Medical Research - Regional Medical Research Centre, Dibrugarh.

The Prime Minister's dream is to create a healthy India, a developed India, in which every citizen of the country should get quality health facilities on time, Malviya asserted. "Health facilities and medicines should become easily affordable, accessible, and available; and health facilities should be spread in all geographical areas and have balanced availability."

Speaking on the commitment of the centre to the development of the Northeast, Mandaviya said, “In the last 10 years, efforts have been made to bring [the Northeast] into the mainstream of the country by connecting it with all types of connectivity like health, Roadways, railways, inland waterways, waterways, and ropeway etc."

"For the first time in the country, the North East region has started to be seen as the growth engine of India", he remarked. "Healthcare today has become accessible and available for this entire region.” 

“In the last 10 years, institutions like RIMS (Regional Institute of Medical Sciences), RIPANS (Regional Institute of Paramedical and Nursing Sciences), NEIGRIHMS (Northeastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences), and Assam AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) have been developed and 23 new medical colleges have been opened in the region. ICMR has also developed various health facilities in the region”, he further said.

The health minister also stated that more than 31 crore people have been given Ayushman cards for providing in-hospital treatment under which free family treatment up to Rs 5 lakh is being given annually. At the same time, more than 22 lakh kidney patients in the country have received free dialysis service, and about 6 crore people in the country have received free treatment through the PMJAY scheme, he said.

Mandaviya also said that the government is working on essential health technology along the lines of essential medicine. "These efforts will make health technologies available, accessible, affordable, and equitable for all people in the coming times", he said.

During the occasion, the Union Health Minister also inaugurated a marketplace and launched a Master’s Program on Health Economics and Technology Assessment in IIPH, Shillong.

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