Gorakhpur, Sep 16 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday accused the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) government of taking bribes for issuing medical licenses in the state.

The Chief Minister was in Gorakhpur for the inauguration of the IMA Charitable Blood Centre.

Urging citizens to donate blood, Chief Minister Adityanath said: "Medical facilities, equipments and medicines can be made to suit modern standards but blood cannot be made. It is a symbol of compassion where a donor saves a life of a recipient."

"We are witnessing a new Gorakhpur, a new Uttar Pradesh, a New India, which has undergone a massive transformation in healthcare," he asserted while adding that earlier there was only one hospital in eastern Uttar Pradesh where four patients used to share one bed.

"Today, the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur is a super speciality hospital which has emerged as the centre of treatment for various diseases, including Encephalitis. Today there is an AIIMS in Gorakhpur. Two medical colleges and four universities are also functional in the district today," CM Adityanath said.

The Chief Minister also launched an attack on the previous governments in the state.

Without directly naming previous governments, CM Adityanath said: "The government (Samajwadi Party) at that time used to demand money for every license. I used to tell them that we would provide all the facilities required, but we would not pay a single rupee as a bribe...When you work hard, God also supports you."

"Along with blood bank, the functioning of the first ICU of eastern Uttar Pradesh has been started by Guru Shri Gorakshnath Chikitsalaya," he stressed.

He claimed that earlier people had to go to Lucknow for medical treatments like dialysis but now it has been made available in Gorakhpur itself.

"Today, several quality hospitals in Gorakhpur are providing facilities like dialysis. Under a government scheme, 10 beds in each district hospital can avail dialysis facility free of cost," he said.

Chief Minister Adityanath said that the number of MBBS seats in the state has increased, "what was previously 4,600 is now more than 13,500".

"Postgraduation seats have doubled. The number of nursing colleges has also increased, and new paramedical courses and institutes are being established to strengthen health services. Work has now begun to take this further by developing centres of excellence. We are setting up a Centre of Excellence for MedTech at IIT Kanpur in collaboration with the institute, with support from the state government. We are also developing a Centre of Excellence at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow," he added.

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This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.