New Delhi: Around 11 lakh jobs are estimated to be generated due to Ayushman Bharat scheme in the next five to seven years which will make it the second largest employment creator after the Railways, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday.
India’s healthcare system will be an example for the world, Narendra Modi said addressing an event to mark the completion of one year of the flagship health insurance programme which he termed one of the several revolutionary steps taken by ‘new India’.
It was the scheme’s big achievement that 46 lakh people have been pulled out of the ‘darkness of disease’, the Prime Minister said. In future, many new hospitals will be set up and employment opportunities will increase, he said.
“According to an estimate, due to demands arising out of the scheme in the next 5-7 years, around 11 lakh new jobs will be created. The enormity of the figure can be gauged by the fact that only the Railways generate employment more than this,” Narendra Modi said. He added that efforts are on to make Ayushman Bharat foolproof and bring about improvements in the scheme.
Talking about the journey of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY) over the past one year, Modi pointed out that if any one person’s land, house, ornaments or any other items were saved from being mortgaged or sold for medical treatment, ‘then it is a huge success of Ayushman India’.
In the last one year about 50,000 poor could avail the benefits under PMJAY outside their districts and states where they could get better facilities, Modi said.
“The first year of Ayushman Bharat has been about resolution, dedication and mutual learning and this dedication belongs to every state and Union Territory of the country. We are running the world’s largest health care scheme successfully in India due to our determination,” the Prime Minister asserted.
Modi said that there should be easy access to medical facilities for every poor and every citizen in the country. As the demand is increasing in small cities, modern medical infrastructure network is increasing, Modi said. He described Ayushman Bharat as a ‘collective solution for the whole of India as well as a holistic solution for a healthy India’.
The Prime Minister was speaking at ‘Arogya Manthan’, a two-day event organised by the National Health Authority to mark the completion of one year of Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY.
PTI