Guwahati: Just hours before the Election Commission of India announced the poll schedule, Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for healthcare projects worth Rs 2,092 crore in Assam, including the inauguration of Guwahati’s second medical college, Pragjyotishpur Medical College.Pointing to Assam’s rise from 98% institutional deliveries and improvements in IMR and MMR, as well as the expansion of medical colleges and cancer centres, Shah said chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma helped bring the state’s healthcare system on a par with Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka. He also alleged that during 15 years of Congress rule, Rs 150 crore was siphoned off every year from Assam’s health budget.
Built at a cost of Rs 675 crore, Pragjyotishpur Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) is Assam’s 14th operational medical college and hospital. Shah virtually opened the Golaghat Cancer Centre and the Tinsukia Cancer Centre, built at a cost of Rs 270 crore. He also inaugurated the Saraswatidevi Shibkishan Damani Academic Block of PMCH.He also virtually laid the foundation stones for 3 super-speciality hospitals to come up within the medical college and hospital campuses in Diphu, Jorhat and Barpeta at a combined cost of Rs 814 crore. He laid the foundation stone for a Swasthya Bhawan at Six Mile in Guwahati, costing Rs 218 crore, and for the Abhayapuri District Hospital, to be built at a cost of Rs 115 crore.“Since becoming the CM, Himanta Biswa Sarma worked with dedication to bring Assam’s health services on a par with developed states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Karnataka,” Shah said.Shah alleged that the previous Congress-led govt showed treatment for 9 lakh children who were never born, spent money on 390 anganwadis that were never built, and diverted funds meant for the nutrition of poor children into pockets of Congress fraternity. “Assam’s health budget was Rs 4,000 crore, from which Congress used to steal Rs 150 crore every year. We raised the budget to Rs 9,000 crore and ensured the money reached the ground level,” he said.He said Tata Trust made a major contribution to cancer care by setting up cancer hospitals at all 13 locations. He said, “No govt hospital in the country currently has a facility for Proton Therapy, an extremely advanced and expensive treatment technology. However, Assam is set to become the first state in the country to provide Proton Therapy in a govt hospital, with an investment of Rs 400 crore.”Shah said the govt’s goal was to make Assam a state where no patient would need to travel outside for treatment, while also enabling poor patients from Bengal and other north-eastern states to come to Assam for care. He said patients would no longer have to travel to Chennai, Mumbai, Karnataka or Delhi, as complete treatment would be available in govt hospitals closer to home.He said Assam earlier had only 6 medical colleges, but the number has now risen to 14, with 10 more planned. Once completed, the state will have 24 medical colleges. “Earlier there were 726 medical seats, but now there are already 1,825 seats across the 14 colleges,” he added.
