PM Modi calls upon private companies to enter medical sector in big way

NEW DELHI: Noting that Indian students have been going to many small countries for medical education despite the language barrier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged the private sector to make a big presence in the field.

Speaking at a webinar on the Union budget announcements on the health sector, Modi suggested that state governments should also formulate “good policies” for land allotment for medical education so that India could produce a large number of doctors and paramedics to fulfill even global demand. His remarks assume significance at a time when a large number of Indian students, many of them studying medicine, have been stuck in Ukraine following the Russian attack on that country. Modi made no direct mention of the crisis though.

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The prime minister said Indian students going abroad for study, especially in medical education, also result in hundreds of billions of rupees exiting the country as well. "Our children today are going to small countries for study, especially in medical education. Language is a problem there. They are still going... Can our private sector not enter this field in a big way? Can our state governments not frame good policies for land allotment regarding this," he asked.

India can benefit a lot from its demographic dividend in this field, he said, adding that Indian doctors have enhanced the country's prestige across the world in the last many decades with their work. In the webinar, Modi also highlighted his government's efforts to provide quality health and wellness services to people. The government has been working with the spirit of "one India one health” so that people in remote locations also have access to quality healthcare, he said, adding quality healthcare infrastructure should not be confined only to big cities, he said.