Healthy life a basic right, Prime Minister Modi tells UN meet

News:At the 74th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly,Indian Prime minister has addressed the Universal Health coverage meeting.

Facts:

Key takeaways:The Prime Minister has said that a healthy life is the basic right of every person.He also outlined the four main pillars of healthcare that India focuses on:

Preventive Healthcare: 

• Prime minister said that India has laid special emphasis on yoga, ayurveda and fitness which has helped in controlling lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, blood pressure and depression.
• India has also launched Fit India Movement recently.
• The Clean India Campaign has contributed towards saving millions of lives.
• Under immunization,India has not only introduced new vaccines but has also improved access to vaccination in far flung areas.

Affordable Healthcare: 

• For this the government has rolled out the world’s largest health insurance scheme named Ayushman Bharat. 
• Under this scheme,500 million poor people have been given the facility of free treatment worth up to Rs.5 lakh every year.In 2018, 4.5 million people availed of this facility.
• India has opened more than 5000 special pharmacies where more than 800 varieties of vital medicines are available at affordable prices.
• The cost of stents for heart patients has been slashed by 80% and the cost of knee implants has been cut down by 50 – 70%.
• India has also helped in providing access to affordable healthcare by way of telemedicine to several other countries, especially African countries.

Supply Side Intervention: 

• India’s focus has been on establishment of modern institutions for quality medical education.
• Government has has also increased the seats in medical colleges for improvement in health resources.

Mission Mode Intervention: 

• In order to improve the health of women and children, a National Nutrition Campaign and other new programmes have been launched in mission mode.
• Also,India has commitment to eliminate Tuberculosis by 2025, five years ahead of the global goal of 2030.