Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that he would urge maximum discussion and participation on three things in healthcare sector amid the Covid-19 crisis, one of them being advances in tele-medicine. He also pushed for the ‘Make in India’ cause in health sector and developing more “IT-related tools” for healthcare.

“Can we think of new models that make tele-medicine popular on a larger scale?” the prime minister said.

“During the last six years, the Central government gave top-most priority and impetus to reforms in health and medical education,” PM Modi said on Monday.

The prime minister outlined the four broad pillars of healthcare development in the country and pushed for ‘Make in India’ cause in the health sector.

“The initial gains in this make me optimistic. Our domestic manufacturers have started production of PPEs and have supplied about 1 crore PPEs to Covid warriors,” he said.

PM Modi also emphasised the importance of developing more “IT-related tools for healthier societies”.

“I am sure you have heard of Arogya Setu. 12 crore health-conscious people have downloaded it. This has been very helpful in the fight against Coronavirus,” he said.

He said that India needs to have proper medical infrastructure and medical education infrastructure. “Work is underway to ensure a medical college or post-graduate medical institute in every district of the country,” he said.

The prime minister described coronavirus as “an invisible enemy” and said that nation’s warriors, “medical workers are invincible”.

“In the battle of Invisible vs Invincible, our medical workers are sure to win,” he said, reiterating that violence, abuse and rude behaviour against frontline workers will not be accepted.

The prime minister also reflected on the strides made by the country in the field of healthcare services, developments and infrastructure in the past years.

“I would like to highlight the success of India’s National Nutrition Mission that is helping youngsters and their Mothers. India is working twenty four by seven to eliminate TB by 2025. This is five years ahead of the global target of 2030,” the prime minister said, adding that India has seen rapid progress in setting up 22 more AIIMS.

He said, the world’s largest healthcare scheme - Ayushman Bharat - belongs to India and in less than 2 years, 1 crore people have benefitted from it.

The prime minister’s comments came while he spoke at the 25th foundation day of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka via video conference on Monday.