New Delhi, Oct 28 (IANS) In a major boost to the healthcare sector in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to launch, inaugurate, and lay the foundation stone of multiple health-related projects worth around Rs 12,850 crore on October 29, the PM Office said on Monday.

The projects, to be initiated across the states on the occasion of Dhanvantari Jayanti and 9th Ayurveda Day, will be launched at around 12.30 p.m. Tuesday at All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), Delhi.

The Prime Minister will inaugurate Phase II of India’s First All India Institute of Ayurveda. It includes a Panchakarma hospital, an Ayurvedic pharmacy for drug manufacturing, a sports medicine unit, a central library, an IT and startups incubation centre, and a 500-seat auditorium among others. Three three medical colleges at Mandsaur, Neemuch, and Seoni in Madhya Pradesh will also be inaugurated.

PM Modi will inaugurate facility and service extensions at various AIIMS in Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh, Kalyani in West Bengal, Patna in Bihar, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Guwahati in Assam and in Delhi, which will also include a Jan Aushadhi Kendra.

A Super Speciality Block in Government Medical College at Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh and a Critical Care Block in Bargarh, Odisha will also be inaugurated.

The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of five Nursing Colleges in Shivpuri, Ratlam, Khandwa, Rajgarh, and Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh; 21 Critical Care Blocks at Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Manipur, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan under Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), and several facilities and service extensions at AIIMS in Delhi and in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh.

He will also inaugurate an ESIC Hospital at Indore in Madhya Pradesh and lay the foundation stone for ESIC hospitals at Faridabad in Haryana, Bommasandra and Narasapur in Karnataka, Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, and Atchutapuram in Andhra Pradesh.

These projects will bring healthcare benefits to around 55 lakh ESI beneficiaries, the PMO said.

As part of the flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), the Prime Minister will launch an expansion of health coverage to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above. The initiative, approved by the Union Cabinet in September, will help provide health coverage to all senior citizens regardless of their income.

In a bid to enhance service delivery across sectors, and to make healthcare more accessible, the PM will also launch drone services at 11 Tertiary Healthcare Institutions - nine AIIMS at Rishikesh (Uttarakhand), Bibinagar (Telangana), Guwahati (Assam), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Patna (Bihar), Bilaspur (Himachal Pradesh), Rae Bareli (Uttar Pradesh), Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Mangalagiri (Andhra Pradesh); and RIMS Imphal in Manipur.

To enable speedy medical care, helicopter emergency medical services will also be launched from AIIMS Rishikesh.

The PM will also launch a fully digitised vaccination process that benefits pregnant women and infants - the U-WIN portal.

The portal will ensure timely administration of life-saving vaccines to pregnant women and children (from birth to 16 years) against 12 vaccine-preventable diseases, the PMO said.

A separate portal will be launched for allied and healthcare professionals and institutes. It will act as a centralised database of existing healthcare professionals and institutes.

Further, Prime Minister Modi will also launch several initiatives to strengthen the research and development and testing infrastructure to improve the healthcare ecosystem in the country. A Central Drugs Testing Laboratory in Gothapatna in Bhubaneswar, Odisha will also be launched.

The PM will lay the foundation stone of two Central Research Institutes in Yoga and Naturopathy at Khordha in Odisha, and Raipur in Chhattisgarh. He will also lay the foundation stone of four Centres of Excellence at NIPER Ahmedabad in Gujarat for medical devices, NIPER Hyderabad in Telangana for bulk drugs, NIPER Guwahati in Assam for phytopharmaceuticals, and NIPER Mohali in Punjab for anti-bacterial anti-viral drug discovery and development.

Four Ayush Centres of Excellence will be launched, for diabetes and metabolic disorders at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru; sustainable Ayush for advanced technological solutions, start-up support, and net zero sustainable solutions for Rasaushadhies at IIT Delhi; fundamental and translational research in Ayurveda at Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow; and Ayurveda and Systems Medicine at JNU, New Delhi.

In a major boost to the Make in India initiative in the healthcare sector, five projects are expected to be inaugurated under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for medical devices and bulk drugs.

These units - at Vapi in Gujarat, Hyderabad in Telangana, Bengaluru in Karnataka, Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh - will manufacture high-end medical devices, such as body implants and critical care equipment, along with important bulk drugs.

A nationwide campaign, “Desh Ka Prakriti Parikshan Abhiyan,” that aims to raise health awareness among the citizens will also be launched by the PM.

To develop climate-resilient healthcare services, the PM will also launch a state-specific Action Plan on Climate Change and Human Health for each state and UT.