KARAIKUDI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said private hospitals have an obligation to provide healthcare at an affordable cost and asked them to supplement the government’s efforts in taking medical facilities to the people. Addressing the gathering after inaugurating two hospitals - the Apollo Reach Hospital and the Vasan Eye Care and Research Institute - here, Singh said the government’s aim was to provide good medical care at an affordable cost to the people of India.“In the public hospital system, healthcare is provided almost free of cost. However, given the vast population of the country, it is necessary that the efforts of the government are supplemented by the private sector,” he added. The PM, however, stated that private hospitals had an obligation to provide medical care at an affordable cost to the people and it was their social duty to provide free medical care the poorest of the poor. “I have no doubt that these two hospitals will bear these obligations in mind,” he said, adding, “the people of Sivaganga and neighbouring districts are fortunate to get access to the best medical facilities available in the country.”Highlighting the UPA Government’s contribution to healthcare, the PM said that in the last six years till March 2011, an amount of `63,000 crore had been released to states under NRHM. The PM also lauded the contributions of Dr P C Reddy, Executive Chairman of Apollo Hospitals and A M Arun, Chairman and Managing Director of Vasan Eye Care Hospital to healthcare. Earlier, the PM inaugurated the Ramanujan Centre for Higher Mathematics at Alagappa University.
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