National Rural Health Mission showing results: PM

Chennai, Sep 5 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the National Rural Health Mission launched by the UPA Government has been yielding good results and this must be consolidated.

Speaking after inaugurating the Corporate Apollo Hospitals' new concept of taking healthcare to semi-urban and urban areas through 'Reach Hospitals' here, he said ''I am happy to say that the Mission is beginning to show positive results on the ground.'' He said healthcare was a major priority of the government in the last four years.

His government had tried to address the serious deficiencies in the rural public health system through the National Rural Health Mission, he said.

The Prime Minister said the challenge of providing affordable quality healthcare to our people cannot be left only to the state.

The private sector has always played a dominant role in the provision of healthcare services in the country.

''The nature of private healthcare provisioning in India is extremely diverse. It ranges from the village level provider of alternative systems of medicine to high quality speciality hospitals.

He said the task before the government was to build on the entire range of societal capacity created in the health sector.

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