NEW DELHI: Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission has the power to bring a revolutionary change in India’s health facilities, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi while launching the campaign on Monday. “Today begins a Mission that has the power to bring a revolutionary change in India’s health facilities. Three years ago, on Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya’s birth anniversary, Ayushman Bharat Yojana was implemented. Happy that Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is being started nationwide from today,” said PM Modi. The Prime Minister said that in the last seven years, the campaign, which has been going on for the last seven years to strengthen the health services of the country, is entering a new phase from today. He also talked about the Arogya Setu app and said it helped a lot in preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection. “We have been able to take the vaccine to everyone, under the free vaccine campaign. India has been able to apply about 90 crore vaccine doses today, and Co-WIN has a big role in it,” he said PM Modi noted that there has also been an unprecedented expansion of telemedicine during the pandemic period. “So far about 125 crore remote consultations have been completed through e-Sanjeevani. This facility is connecting thousands of countrymen living in far-flung parts of the country every day with doctors of big hospitals of cities while sitting at home,” said PM Modi. The Prime Minister further said that through Ayushman Bharat-PM-JAY, the government have been able to eliminate the great concern of the life of the poor. “So far more than 2 crore countrymen have availed the facility of free treatment under this scheme. In this also half the beneficiaries are our mothers, sisters, daughters,” he said. “130 crore Aadhaar numbers…118 crore mobile subscribers… about 80 crore internet users… about 43 crore Jan Dhan bank accounts… nowhere in the world there exist such big connected infrastructure. This digital infrastructure is taking the ration from the administration to the common Indian in a fast, and transparent manner,” added the Prime Minister. PM Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission through video conferencing on Monday. The pilot project of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission was announced by the Prime Minister from the ramparts of Red Fort on August 15 last year. Currently, the programme is being implemented on a pilot basis in six Union Territories.
