A two-day regional consultative workshop on research priority for providing accessible and affordable healthcare in the North East began here today.
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya, inaugurated the event virtually. Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State of Health and Family Welfare and Meghalaya Health and Family Welfare Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh were present on the occasion.
The workshop is being jointly organised here by the central government’s Department of Health Research, Indian Institute of Public Health, Shillong, and Indian Council of Medical Research – Regional Medical Research Centre, Dibrugarh.
Addressing the gathering, Mandaviya said that the effort of the central government is on ensuring that everyone gets access to health facilities in an equal manner without any distinction between rich and poor.
On the commitment of the Centre for the development of the North East, Mandaviya said, “In the last 10 years, efforts have been made to bring it into the mainstream of the country by connecting it with all types of connectivity like health, roadways, railways, highways, waterways and ropeways, etc. For the first time in the country, the North East region has started to be seen as the growth engine of India. Healthcare today has become accessible and available for this entire region.”
He added that existing health institutions like Shillong’s NEIGRIHMS have been developed in the last decade and 23 new medical colleges have been opened in the region.
During the occasion, the Union Health Minister also inaugurated a market place and launched a master’s programme on Health Economics and Technology Assessment in IIPH Shillong.
Pawar said that the North East has benefitted immensely from innovations and initiatives taken in the health sector and schemes like Ayushman Bharat, Health and Wellness Centres and others are successfully providing primary healthcare services at the grassroots.