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Prime Minister Modi Inaugurates First Health Centre Under Ayushman Bharat Scheme

Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the government aims to open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres by 2022.

Dr. Vikram Rothod, medical officer, department of Dermatology, Bombay Leprosy Project (BLP), examines a patient hand’s strenght at BLP’s referral centre in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
Dr. Vikram Rothod, medical officer, department of Dermatology, Bombay Leprosy Project (BLP), examines a patient hand’s strenght at BLP’s referral centre in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first health centre under Ayushman Bharat Scheme today.

Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the government aims to open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres by 2022, which would be equipped to treat a host of diseases, including blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer.

Also under the scheme, the government has prepared the broad contour of the National Health Protection Scheme and work is on to finalise parameters for identifying beneficiaries and hospital entitlement.

The prime minister also inaugurated the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km-long network of fibre optics cable would be spread across the seven districts of the tribal region. The districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada.

Modi, who is the first prime minister to visit the tribal district of Bijapur, also inaugurated a new rail line and a passenger train between Gudum and Bhanupratappur, bringing north Bastar region on railways' map.

This was the prime minister's fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where assembly elections are due later the year. He had visited Dantewada in May 2015, Naya Raipur and Rajnandgaon in February 2016 and Naya Raipur in November 2016.

Modi also inaugurated bank branches in seven villages and visited a rural business process outsourcing centre developed under the India BPO promotion scheme. He also laid foundation stones for road and bridge projects worth over Rs 1,700 crore.

The prime minister's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar.