Massive employment to be generated due to measures taken for self-reliance in health sector: Vardhan

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday mentioned there’ll be huge employment technology as an influence of measures undertaken by the federal government for self-reliance in the health sector.

Addressing a session on ‘India as a Health Hub’ organised by Swarajya Magazine in affiliation with Vedanta Limited, Mr. Vardhan mentioned the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ bundle for the health sector, value ₹60,000 crore, will strengthen supply of healthcare providers throughout the complete continuum of care.

“It will include setting up of national, regional, district and block level laboratories integrated into a network for surveillance functions backed by robust IT based reporting mechanisms leading to self-reliance for detection, prevention and containment of disease outbreak,” he mentioned.

“I am happy to state that there will be massive employment generation as an impact of the measures that we have undertaken as part of the self-reliance in the health sector,” he mentioned.

Mr. Vardhan mentioned the bundle may even assist construct up a frontline health workforce to reply to any public health emergencies in the longer term.

“The development of critical care hospital blocks in more than 600 districts shall make such districts self-sufficient in providing comprehensive treatment for infectious diseases without disruption to other services,” he mentioned.

Elaborating on how India can progress with self-reliance, the Union minister mentioned, “India can progress only if each citizen progresses and for each citizen to progress we need to be self-reliant”.

“Self-reliant India does not mean boycotting foreign goods but believing in the concept of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. It means ending India’s dependence on other countries and moving towards development and progress,” he mentioned.

Speaking on the self-reliance initiatives taken throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, he mentioned, “India utilized the time during lockdown to upgrade the health infrastructure, build capacity of healthcare workers and ensure availability of requisite logistics in the country.

“We are today self-sufficient in the indigenous manufacturing of PPE kits, masks etc and also in a position to export the same.” On leveraging expertise in the combat towards the pandemic, Mr. Vardhan mentioned the Aarogya Setu utility was developed for the aim of serving to in COVID administration and the appliance has been downloaded by 168 million customers.

“In order to aid the surveillance and containment activities, an IT tool called ITIHAS was also developed. ‘eSanjeevani’, a web-based comprehensive telemedicine solution is being utilized across India to extend the reach of specialized healthcare services to masses in both rural areas and isolated communities, he said.

The minister said the ‘e-ICUs’ also provided round the clock guidance in managing ICU patients in peripheral settings.

Noting the efforts undertaken to rapidly increase the infrastructure in the country during the pandemic, he said the total isolation beds increased to more than 1.5 million by the end of ‘Unlock 6’ as compared to 10,180 before the lockdown.

“Similarly, the number of ICU beds has increased to around 80,669 as compared to just 2,168 before lockdown,” he mentioned “We are launching programmes which are unprecedented in terms of their scale and reach also. These strife are ambitious and also evidence of our sincere commitment towards a healthy and more productive India,” he mentioned.