YOUR MIND, YOUR BODY ARE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR A DEVELOPED NATION

Health is wealth, they say. Lok Sabha MP Bansuri Swaraj concurs, as did her mother, Sushma Swaraj, who was the health minister under prime minister A.B. Vajpayee. “She was the one who knew that to have a Samriddha Bharat (prosperous India), we need to have a Swastha Bharat (healthy India),” Bansuri Swaraj told Senior Assistant Editor Pratul Sharma. In a freewheeling chat, she shared her dream for the health of India. Excerpts:

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Pratul Sharma/ Let me begin with the central theme of this session. What is your dream for the health of India?

Bansuri Swaraj/ My dream for India is actually twofold. The first is to have access and inclusivity in our health system for everybody, because they craft and create the socioeconomic background. To ensure that, we are leveraging technology to ensure that access to health care becomes modern and effective.

Today, 60 per cent of our population is below the age of 35. A harsh reality will be that in 30 years, this huge resource of youth will grow old. So, my second dream is: I want my country to have a robust geriatric care system. To ensure that we need to have very strong policy-driven decisions to have the infrastructure on ground to equip us to deal with that. But we also need to run a formidable awareness campaign where we sensitise people that health is not something to be taken lightly. Your mind, your body are building blocks for a developed nation.

Sharma/ What kind of initiatives are needed to ensure better care of our ageing population?

Swaraj/ I am very proud to say that the Modi administration is already thinking about it. There are certain initiatives like the one headed by [AIIMS director] Dr M. Srinivas, where he is leveraging technology to integrate various Delhi hospitals to ensure bed availability. You don't have to go running from pillar to post, you can see it on one application.