Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, a national scheme for strengthening health infrastructure, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh today (October 25). 

The Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission is meant to ensure a robust public health infrastructure in both urban and rural areas, one that is capable of responding to public health emergencies or disease outbreaks. A press release from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) stated that its objective was to “fill critical gaps in public health infrastructure, especially in critical care facilities and primary care in both the urban and rural areas.”

According to news reports, the PMO said that it will be in addition to the National Health Mission and will provide support for 17,788 rural health and wellness centres in ten high focusing states. In addition, 11,024 urban health and wellness centres will be established in all the states. The PMO also informed that the prime minister will inaugurate various development projects worth more than Rs 5200 crore for Varanasi alone. 

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Under the initiative, ‘Exclusive Critical Care Hospital Blocks’ will be established across those districts in the country that have a population of over five lakhs. It also plans to set up integrated public health laboratories nationwide.

A national institution for one health, four new national institutes for virology, a regional research platform for World Health Organization South East Asia Region, nine biosafety level-III laboratories, and five new regional centres for disease control will also be set-up. 

The mission will establish an IT-enabled disease surveillance system through a network of surveillance laboratories at block, district, regional, and national levels. All the public health labs will be connected through the Integrated Health Information Portal and will be expanded to all states and union territories, as per the PMO. 

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In order to ensure a vigorous system to ‘detect, investigate, prevent, and combat public health emergencies and disease outbreaks, 17 new public health units will be set-up, while the 33 existing public health units will be strengthened. Healthcare and frontline workers will also be trained to respond to public health emergencies effectively. 

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister virtually inaugurated nine medical colleges in Siddharthnagar, Etah, Hardoi, Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Deoria, Ghazipur, Mirzapur and Jaunpur. 

Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Uttar Pradesh is being seen as crucial since it comes months ahead of assembly elections.