Carried out surgery to change old system in Gujarat, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that Gujarat was afflicted by many diseases two decades ago and his government carried out a "surgery" to change the old system. There was a lack of clean intentions and sensitivity for the public 20-25 years ago which weakened the state's healthcare system, he said. The prime minister was speaking after launching Rs 1,275 crore-worth healthcare facilities at the Civil Hospital (Asarwa) in Ahmedabad. "Many diseases afflicted Gujarat. One disease was backwardness in healthcare... Similar to curing someone of a disease, we are carrying out this 'Mukti Yagna' to cure the state of many diseases. And we keep trying our best to cure the state," he said. A doctor prescribes medicine, surgery and proper care to cure a patient, the prime minister said.

 

"If I am to put the same thing differently, then to improve the healthcare system of Gujarat, my government adopted all these three processes," said Modi, who was chief minister of Gujarat four times.

"Surgery means changing the old system. My way of surgery is to use the scissors on inaction, sloppiness and corruption. Then comes medicine, which means making new efforts every day to develop new systems, human resources, infrastructure, innovation, building new hospitals. And the third is care, which is the most important part of improving Gujarat's health sector," he said. Among other "diseases" that afflicted Gujarat were misgovernance in education, lack of electricity and water, maladministration and poor law and order situation, said Modi.

"At the root of all these diseases was the biggest disease -- the politics of vote bank," Modi said. If governments are not healthy and their intentions not clean, they cannot approach the public with sensitivity. This causes the health infrastructure to weaken, he said, adding that his government worked with care and sensitivity.

"We went among the public, shared their problems....I can say with humility that Gujarat was the first state (to do so) when we set up health camps for not just humans but also for animals," he said.

Talking about his call of 'One Earth, One Health' at a G20 summit during the pandemic, Modi said in some countries people received four-five doses of anti-coronavirus vaccines, and then there were countries where the poor did not receive even a single dose.

"I was pained, and then India undertook the mission of supplying vaccines to the world," the prime minister said. The things he learnt in Gujarat helped him when he became prime minister, Modi said.

"In eight years, we have set up 22 new AIIMS (All India Institutes of Medical Sciences) in different parts of India. Gujarat has also benefited from it. Rajkot has got a new AIIMS," he said. He expressed confidence that Gujarat will make its name in medical, pharma and biotech research, adding that the "double engine government" (the BJP governments in the state and the Centre) was making special efforts in this direction.

"When sympathy and resources come together, resources become the best medium of service. But where there is no sympathy, resources succumb to selfishness and corruption," he said. Maternal and child mortality rates were high in Gujarat at one time and the earlier governments took no corrective action, Modi said.

With the right kind of policies, child and maternal mortality have declined in Gujarat in the last 20 years, he claimed. The prime minister inaugurated new as well as upgraded facilities for cardiac care and a new hostel building at the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre, new hospital building of the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre and new building of the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute.

He also laid the foundation stone of a shelter home for the families of poor patients.