The Ayushman Bharat Scheme earned a major accolade when Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates congratulated the Indian government on completion of 100 days of Ayushmaan Bharat initiative. Bill Gates posted a congratulatory tweet in response to a tweet by Union Minister JP Nadda who claimed 685000 beneficiaries have availed the benefits from the scheme in the first 100 days.
Congratulations to the Indian government on the first 100 days of @AyushmanNHA. It’s great to see how many people have been reached by the program so far. @PMOIndia https://t.co/AHHktUt95z
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) January 17, 2019
Ayushman Bharat Yojana is Modi government’s flagship healthcare programme launched in 2018, under the Ayushman Bharat Mission of MoHFW for a New India -2022. The scheme aims at making interventions in primary, secondary and tertiary care systems, covering both preventive and promotive health, to address healthcare holistically. The scheme intends to provide coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10.74 crore poor families or over 50 crore people.
This is not the first time Bill Gates has lauded the Modi government for its initiatives. Gates has been a staunch supporter of Modi government’s policies. In the past, Gates had lauded PM Modi for envisioning and implementing the Swachh Bharat mission and for its commitment towards making India open-defecation free. The World Bank had also hailed it as the world’s largest sanitation programme.
Gates had rallied behind the Modi government in support of Aadhaar, the biometric ID system even as the opposition cornered the government on the privacy issue. Gates had then called the system exemplary without any privacy concerns and had exhorted other countries across the world to emulate it.
A few days back, Philip Kotler, the renowned marketing consultant and author, had echoed similar sentiments of praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the latter’s leadership qualities and his selfless service to India. Endorsing the Philip Kotler Presidential Award conferred upon Modi, Kotler said that the award is in recognition of Modi’s efforts to bring about remarkable economic, social and technological advances in India.
As the Ayushmaan Bharat Yojana is getting recognition from across the world, some Indian politicians are determined to disparage and scuttle it. Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal pulled out of the Ayushmaan Bharat Yojana alleging that PM Modi is getting all the credit and State’s contribution is being neglected. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal undermined the healthcare scheme by calling it a PR exercise by the Modi government.
