Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday discussed some points related to public health and medical facilities during a function. He laid the foundation stone of Jorhat Medical College at Jorhat in Assam. He also flagged off a Mobile Medical Unit in the first day of his two-day visit to Assam. He appreciated the efforts of the state government. He congratulated the state Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for his valuable efforts to set up a medical college in Assam. He hoped that the vision of CM to open three medical colleges will materialize soon.

Mobile Medial Unit will help in providing medical care to the people. This mobile medical service is a part of National Rural Health Mission. Several other medicals units will be started in 17 districts for public health. These mobile medical units will be equipped with latest technology and competent medical team.

During his address, the prime minister appealed to the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to help in social and economic development of Assam rather that creating an atmosphere fear and insecurity through insurgent activities. He appealed to all sections of people of Assam to persuade the ULFA to give up the path of confrontation as “power in a democracy flows from ballots and not bullets. He added that full potential of this region is still unexplored.

He said that the spread of medical colleges in the country is uneven as 60 percent of the medical colleges are located in five southern states. He added that decision of state government to establish three new medical colleges in the State would be able to impart quality medical education and provide better health care facilities to the people of the State. He said India has shortage of trained doctors and nurses. Hence providing health care facilities to the growing population is the major challenge faced by the Government and the country.

He said that the Planning Commission has projected a shortage of nearly one million nurses in the country in the next five years. Nursing has provided many job opportunities to women and contributed to their empowerment in some States of the country.

Dr. Singh said, “We need a large number of nurses to support our healthcare institutions. The women of the North-East are well educated and progressive in outlook. I have no doubt that, given the right opportunities; we will see large numbers of lady doctors and nurses from the North East in different hospitals and health care institutions of the country.”

He appreciated the innovative idea of ‘Boat Clinics’ by Assam government. He expressed his happiness over the growth in health care infrastructure in Assam. He added that the collective efforts of the Central and State Governments are required for the improvement of health care facilities and medical education in the country. He also stressed the need for amending the charter of the Medical Council of India.