New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said despite dire predictions and numerous doubts, India beat all odds in the global fight against the deadly Corona virus infection and developed a Covid-specific health infrastructure.
“Last year, in February-March, a lot of experts had said the India will be the worst-affected country, there will be tsunami of cases. They predicted two million deaths in the country. But India moved ahead with a proactive public participation,” the Prime Minister said while addressing the World Economic Forum’s Davos Dialogue in virtual format.
“Today, India is among countries that have succeeded in saving the maximum lives. The country, which comprises of 18% of the world’s population, has saved the world from disaster by bringing the situation under control,’ he said.
PM Modi said India had launched the world’s biggest vaccination programme and in just 12 days, India has vaccinated more than 2.3 million healthcare workers.
“The country, by sending the vaccines to other countries, is saving lives worldwide. Right now, there are just two Made-in-India vaccines. In the coming days, there will be more,’ he added.
He also outlined steps that his government had taken to cope with the shock of Covid 19 pandemic, including ease of doing business and reforms.
The Prime Minister said that looking at the condition of countries with better health infrastructure, the world was right in worrying about India. However, India took a proactive public participation approach and developed a COVID-specific health infrastructure and trained its resources to fight COVID, Mr. Modi said. He said that technology was fully used for testing and tracking.
The Prime Minister said India is not only fulfilling its needs of PPE kits and masks, but also exporting and helping other countries. In the next few months, India would complete its target of vaccinating 300 million old people and people with co-morbidities.
PM Modi said India also has shown the world how traditional medicine, like Ayurveda, can help in improving immunity. He further stated that today, India is sending its vaccine to several countries and is helping in developing the infrastructure for successful vaccination, thus saving lives of citizens of other countries.
On the economic front, he said the situation is set to change in the post-COVID era. He added that India continued its economic activities during COVID with infrastructure work worth trillions of rupees, providing employment. He said India stressed on saving every single life and is now walking ahead to become Aatmanirbhar.He said 1.3 billion people of India have Aadhar, which is connected to their accounts. In December last year, UPI saw transactions worth Rs. 4 trillion.
PM Modi said people in the banking sector know how countries worldwide are trying to replicate the UPI system developed by India. He also said India is starting a new initiative to provide a unique health ID to 1.3 billion citizens for easy access to healthcare.
