Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah addressed the Silver Jubilee celebrations of Amrita Hospital as the Chief Guest in Kochi, Kerala,today.

In the beginning of his address, Shri Amit Shah expressed his deep condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the tragic train accident in Odisha.

The Union Home Minister said that whenever he comes to Kerala, he feels very peaceful and happy. Shri Shah said that he has met Amma many times in his life and each time he has gained new consciousness and energy from her. He said that Amma has given her love, affection and energy to crores of people all over the world. Amma has infused the feeling of consciousness, energy and eternal peace in true sense in the lives of everyone who meets her. Shri Shah said that he has come here today to commermorate the good works done by Amma. He said that Amma's contribution in the fields of religion, tradition, culture and service in the last five decades has brought laurels to our Sanatanculture  in the whole world. Shri Shah said thatAmma has given a new dimension and introduction to India's Sanatan culture and tradition by highlighting their good aspects across the whole world.

Shri Amit Shah said that every work initiated byAmmain her life was always successful and this institute also exemplifies the same. He added that the institute, which started with 125 beds has emerged as one of the best institutes in the world with a capacity of over 1,350 beds, today. He said that the institute is dedicated to the care of patient with excellence, innovation and compassion, and is one of the best service centers in India. Citing the achievements of the institute, Shri Shah said that a new era of service in the health sector has begun. He said that today with the blessings of Amma, it has also been announced to set up a state of the art facility at Amritapuri campus and Kochi campus. He said that its total area would be more than 1.85 lakh square feet. Shri Shah said that Amrita Multi-disciplinary Research Innovation and Translation Hub has emerged as a very prestigious institute in the field of research globally. He said that these institutes are going to be set up in 1.85 lakh square feet area in Amritapuri, 20 thousand square feet in Chicago, 3 lakh square feet in Faridabad and 10 lakh square feet in Kochi.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that today Amrita Hospital is completing 25 golden years in the field of service. He said that during its journey from 1998 to 2023, more than 20 lakh patients have been treated completely free of cost in this hospital. He said that by providing free services to 20 lakh needy patients, Amrita Hospital has provided new ray of hope in their lives. Shri Shah said that about Rs. 800 crore have been spent on free treatment of lakhs of people and this shows that Indian philosophy of 'SevaParamodharma' has been fully implemented by this institution of Amma. He said that getting inspiration from the Amma's spirit of service, many new beginnings have been made in the medical field by this institution. Amrita Hospital performed the first micro-blood stem cell transplant in India, the first fully robotic liver transplant and the first robotic knee and hip replacement. He said that the first medical 3D printing facility in India was also made available in the institute and for the first time in the world, in 2022, the smallest artificial heart pump was transplanted in this institute only.

Shri Amit Shah added that Ammasaid that “dissatisfaction is the greatest poverty and contentment is the real prosperity”. This is the reason, former President Dr.Kalam had said that he learnt to serve the people fromAmritapuri. Shri Shah said that these values given by Amma has not only inspired but alsofilled the lives of 4 crore with new hope, enthusiasm and love. He said that despite serving continuously for 50 years with such great achievements, one finds great humility in Amma. Shri Shah said that the span of Amma's service is not only limited to India but is spread across the whole world. He said that in the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, Amma's Foundation built over 1200 earthquake-resistant houses in 2 villages and even today, these are known as Amma's Villages. He said that there are many such examples like, 2015 Nepal Earthquake, 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Floods, 2014 Philippines Cyclone and 2004 Tsunami in India and Sri Lanka, each time Amma along with her followers worked with great enthusiasm to help many affected people. To accelerate the SwachhtaAbhiyan in India, Amma gave Rs.200 crores, out of which Rs.100 crores were given to build toilets in villages situated on the banks of the Ganga and Rs.100 crores to build toilets in Kerala. Shri Shah said that apart from this, the program of construction of 45,000 houses and providing food grains to about 1 crore poor every year is run byAmma.

Union Home Minister said that this is the year of AzadikaAmritMahotsav and under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, in the last 9 years a big change has come in the country in the field of health, with a holistic approach. He said that many initiatives under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Fit India Mission, Nutrition Mission, Mission Indradhanush, Ayushman Bharat and Jal jeevan Mission have been takenby Modi Government to keep people healthy. Shri Shah said that the entire health expenditure up to Rs. 5 lakh has been made free for 60 crore poor people of the country under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. He said that there has been a lot of infrastructural development in the field of medical education. The number of medical colleges was 387 in 2013-14, which has increased to 648 today. Number of MBBS seats have increased from 51,000 to 99,000, post-graduate seats have increased from 31,000 to 64,000 and 22 new AIIMS have been set up across the country. During the Covid-19 pandemic period, the work of providing more than 230 crore ‘Made in India’ Corona vaccines to 130 crore Indians has been done in India.

Shri Shah expressed the hope that with the blessings of Amma, this institution would celebrate its Golden Jubilee celebrations as well and celebrate the centenary in an even grander manner.

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RK/AY/AKS/AS