Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission. Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said the country has achieved a major milestone of 100 crore vaccine doses in its fight against the corona epidemic.

The aim of the mission is to strengthen the critical healthcare network from village to block to the district to the regional and national level in the next 4-5 years. Describing the initiative taken by the government under the new Mission, the Prime Minister said that there are 3 major aspects of the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission to address the different gaps in the health sector of the country. The first is related to the creation of elaborate facilities for diagnostics and treatment. Under this, Health and Wellness Centers are being opened in villages and cities, where there will be facilities for early detection of diseases. Facilities like free medical consultation, free tests, free medicine will be available in these centres. For serious illness, 35,000 new critical care-related beds are being added in 600 districts and referral facilities will be given in 125 districts. 

The second aspect of the scheme, the Prime Minister said, is related to the testing network for the diagnosis of diseases. Under this mission, the necessary infrastructure will be developed for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases. 730 districts of the country will get Integrated Public Health labs and 3,000 blocks will get Block Public Health Units. Apart from that, five Regional National Centers for Disease Control, 20 metropolitan units, and 15 BSL labs will further strengthen this network, said the Prime Minister.

The Third aspect, according to the Prime Minister, is the expansion of existing research institutions that study pandemics. Existing 80 Viral Diagnostic and research labs will be strengthened, 15 Biosafety level 15 labs will be operationalized, 4 new National institutes of Virology and a National Institute for One Health are being established. WHO regional research platform for South Asia will also strengthen this network. “This means, through PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission an entire ecosystem for services from treatment to critical research will be created in every corner of the country”, said the Prime Minister.