Chennai: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said there will be massive employment generation as an impact of measures undertaken by the government for self-reliance in the health sector.
Addressing a session on “India as a Health Hub” organised by Swarajya Magazine in association with Vedanta Limited, Vardhan said the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ package for the health sector, worth Rs 60,000 crore, will strengthen delivery of healthcare services across the full 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 said.
“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 said.
“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 said.
Elaborating on how India can progress with self-reliance, the Union Minister said, “India can progress only if each citizen progresses and for each citizen to progress we need to be self-reliant.”
Speaking on the self-reliance initiatives taken during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said, “India utilised 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”.
