The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has called for a renewed focus on rural health care and cautioned that the quality of healthcare being delivered cannot be determined by the price being paid. 

Outlining some of the major challenges faced by healthcare sector such as the epidemiological transition being witnessed by India from communicable to non-communicable diseases, unequal access to healthcare and rising costs, Naidu said that a lot more needs to be done to ensure health security to our vast population.

The Vice President observed that urban areas had four times as many medical practitioners compared to rural areas, and said that this rural urban divide had to be addressed on war footing. 

Highlighting the importance of technology, the Vice President said that with technology, it was possible to reach millions of people across the country, providing better diagnosis and treatment by facilitating effective collaboration between healthcare workers.

Expressing concern over the rising costs of providing medical services, Naidu opined that the integration of technological innovation with healthcare delivery will certainly help in lower healthcare delivery costs. He urged all educational institutions to invest a sizeable portion of their budget in research and development for the discovery and advancement of new technologies.

Terming medical profession as a ‘mission’, Naidu said that healthcare practitioners would play a critical role in nation building by safeguard the health of this nation, enabling it for it to take its rightful place of leadership in the world. ‘Only a healthy nation cab be a wealthy nation’, he added.

These thoughts were expressed by the Vice President while delivering the 13^th Convocation Address of Pravara Institute of Medical Sciences, a Deemed University (PIMS-DU), in Loni, Maharashtra recently.