Amit Shah hails govt move to make knee implants affordable

BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday described central government's move to drastically bring down knee implants cost as "historic" and said the new initiative has brought the surgery within the reach of poor.

Shah, in a blog, said the Modi government by reducing the knee implant and cardiac stent costs has realised "Sarve Santu Niramayah" -- a part of the Sanskrit prayer which if translated into English meant,  "Let all be happy and healthy".  In a veiled dig at Congress, he said public welfare oriented governments are supposed to provide affordable and quality services in the field of education, health and electricity but "unfortunately even after 67 years of independence, masses never got basic facilities".

For instance, he pointed out, that life threatening drugs were beyond the means of ordinary persons but Narendra Modi after becoming PM in 2014 took measures to ensure critical health care was not confined to the rich alone.   

In another indirect attack against previous Congress governments, the BJP chief said prior to 2014, no one cared for the difficulties faced by women defecating openly and cooking food on unhealthy wood-fueled stoves, underprivileged unable to avail expensive medical facilities and villagers living in darkness.  However, the central government had a vision that surpassed the rich and the cities to bring the deprived section of the society into the mainstream through a dozen schemes such as Ujwala and Swachch Bharat.