New Delhi, Aug 24 (PTI) The Centre has stood by states throughout the coronavirus pandemic and emergency packages have played a huge role in mounting a sturdy public response to COVID-19, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday.

He also said that the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana is addressing regional imbalance in tertiary medical care and is providing quality medical education in under-served states, according to a health ministry statement.

Also Read | New 2021 Global Management Schools Ranking - 3 European Schools Are Among the Best in the World.

Mandaviya was speaking at an event in which he dedicated an AYUSH building and night shelter at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Jharkhand's Deoghar district and also inaugurated outdoor patient department (OPD) services at the new building, it said.

The minister noted that now people can get the best of medical facilities in Deogarh and said the foundation stone of the institute was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 25, 2018, according to the statement.

Also Read | BTSC GMO Result 2021 Declared At pariksha.nic.in; Here Are Steps To Check The Result.

People coming from faraway place can stay at the night shelter and complete their treatment, he said.

The institute will not only serve the 15 lakh residents of Deoghar but also the 3.19 crore people of Jharkhand, Mandaviya said.

The Union health minister took the opportunity to point out that the Union government, under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Modi, has stood by states throughout the pandemic, the statement said.

Mandaviya said that the ECRP-1 and ECRP-II (Emergency COVID19 Response Package) have played a huge role in mounting a sturdy public health response to COVID-19.

The Centre has helped Jharkhand in every possible way in its fight against the pandemic, he said.

Citing the concept of 'Antyodaya' -- serving the last citizen in society -- as propounded by Deendayal Upadhyaya, he said this was the guiding principle of the health ministry's efforts to implement the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.

The health minister also noted that the AIIMS in Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Raipur, Patna, Jodhpur and Rishikesh are now fully functional.

The OPD facilities in AIIMS, Deoghar, will include medicine and its allied specialties general medicine and pulmonology (tuberculosis and respiratory diseases), psychiatry, dermatology, surgery and allied its specialties general surgery and orthopedics, ENT, ophthalmology, pediatrics-vaccination of new born and children, obstetrics and gynaecology, dentistry, pathology and microbiology, radiology, the statement said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)