Delhi: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sanctioned the establishment of 157 new medical colleges to ensure that the people of the country have access to cheap medicine. “The number of seats for medical students has nearly doubled since the PM approved 157 new medical institutions. We used a holistic strategy to ensure that people could afford treatment “Mandaviya stated today during a press conference.

The Union Health Minister went on to say that the Indian government has built up 1, 50,000 Ayushman health and wellness centres to provide low-cost treatment for ailments like cancer and diabetes, as well as primary health check-ups. Around 79,000 of the above have been inaugurated around the country,” Mandaviya added. He went on to say that the government of India has established 8000 Jan Aushadhi centres to assure the provision of cost-effective medications and that more than 20 lakh individuals have benefited from these stores.

Over the next 4-5 years, Rs. 64,000 crores would be invested in the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission to fill in the gaps in the current health infrastructure from village to the district to the national level. According to Mandaviya, Rs. 5,000 crores will be spent on preventive care. There will be 4 new national institutes of virology, a regional research platform for the WHO South-East Asia Region, 15 biosafety level-III laboratories, and 5 new regional national centres for disease control. A new National Institution for ‘One Health’: Vikas Sheel, Additional Secy & Mission Director said on health infra mission.