Prime Minister Narendra Modi today underlined the need to focus on a preventive approach to health and called upon the people to lay emphasis on cleanliness, exercise and Yoga.

He also stressed the importance of a good diet, clean water and nutrition while dedicating to the nation the K. K. Patel Super Speciality Hospital in Bhuj. The hospital has been built by Shree Kutchi Leva Patel Samaj, Bhuj.

Speaking on the occasion, the PM appreciated that leaving the devastation caused by the 2001 earthquake behind, the people of Bhuj and Kutch were now writing a new destiny for this region with their hard work.

“Today many modern medical services exist in this area. In this series, Bhuj is getting a modern, super speciality hospital today,” he said. This hospital was the first charitable super speciality hospital of the region that would act as a guarantee of quality medical treatment for the people of Kutch along with lakhs of soldiers, paramilitary personnel and traders, the PM informed.

Modi elaborated that better health facilities were not limited only to the treatment of disease, they also encouraged social justice. “When cheap and best treatment is available to the poor, his faith in the system is strengthened. If they get freedom from the worry of the cost of treatment, they work hard to get out of poverty with more determination”, the PM said. He explained that in past years, all the schemes of the health sector have been implemented with this thought behind them.

The ”Ayushman Bharat” scheme has been instrumental in saving crores of rupees every year in the treatment of poor and middle-class families along with the Janaushadhi Yojana. Health and Wellness centres and campaigns such as the ”Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Scheme” were helping to make treatment accessible to all.

Shifting to Gujarati, the PM said that ‘‘a situation has come when neither can I leave Kutch nor can Kutch leave me.” He talked about the recent expansion of medical infrastructure and education in Gujarat.

He asked the Kutch region to celebrate the ”Yoga Day” on a grand scale. He also reiterated his call for 75 Amrit sarovars in every district.