New Delhi, Aug 24: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also a renowned Diabetologist, on Thursday said that digital healthcare can be an effective preventive tool against a host of diseases ranging from lifestyle disorders like Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus to infectious diseases like Covid.
The minister was speaking on the topic of “India’s digital roadmap for Healthy India for accessible and affordable healthcare” at the 3rd Healthcare Leaders Summit. He said digital healthcare with a focus on prevention will be the focus in the years to come.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that public-private partnership (PPP) model for healthcare services is the need of the hour especially to put an end to the urban-rural dichotomy in healthcare services.
“We can leverage science and technology to bridge disparities between the urban and rural divide with a dedicated focus on affordability, inclusivity, and accessibility,” he added.
Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the high priority given to healthcare, Dr Singh said that it was because of the personal interest and intervention of PM Modi that within two years, India not only managed the Covid pandemic successfully better than much smaller countries, but also succeeded in coming out with a DNA vaccine and providing it to the other countries as well.
He said India has made progress over the years in bettering the overall healthcare infrastructure of the country, and that there has been “a transition over the entire disease spectrum as well as the evolution of therapeutic and the preventive modalities available to us over the last half a century or so”.
The union minister said that following PM Modi’s vision in the last more than 9 years, healthcare has been given top priority by the government. “By bringing in Ayushman Bharat, the first of its kind health insurance scheme in the world,” he said, adding that India has moved from sectoral and segmented approach of health service delivery to a comprehensive need-based healthcare service.
“This is possibly the only health insurance scheme in the world which offers the option of seeking insurance cover even for a pre-existing disease, like for example, if today a person is detected having cancer, he can thereafter go and get himself insured to receive the financial support for treatment,” he said.
Dr Jitendra said Science and Technology are crucial tools in addressing the unmet needs of society and addressing the global challenges that we are facing today.
