Chamarajanagar: President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said the hope of building an 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' can be achieved only when the country's technology, human resources and the access to both come together.
He stressed the need to take the health services to the country's remotest corners.
The President was speaking after inaugurating the newly built Teaching Hospital of the Chamarajanagar Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS) here.
Pointing out that the area around the CIMS is densely forested and many of the people living in it are from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, he urged the administration of the institute and the state government to take steps to make affordable healthcare available to its immediate neighbours, with the goal of providing universal healthcare for all.
This will be in tune with the true aim of the expansion of medical services in the country, he said.
He noted that as new post-graduate colleges are coming up, the existing post-graduate institutes are also encouraged to become Centres of Excellence. But this infrastructure cannot serve its purpose without human resources, the President said.
"All technology will be useless if we don't have a robust delivery mechanism. We need to take our health services to the remotest corners of our country. We can hope to build an Atmanirbhar Bharat only when our technology, human resources and the access to both come together," he added.
Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai were among others present at the event.
The new 450-bed hospital would provide more opportunities for practical experience and training to the budding talent in Chamarajanagar, the President said. The hospital with state-of-the-art facilities and adequate infrastructure for critical care and super speciality departments like cardiology, neurology etc, will also provide better healthcare services to the people of this region.
Highlighting that out of 750 medical students about 300 are women, while about 60 per cent of the nursing students are women, he said "Indeed, the daughters of our country are taking great strides. This reflects a progressive India marching ahead in the 21st century."
PTI
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