Govt working on steps to bring down knee surgery costs, says PM Modi

New Delhi: After the recent move to put a cap on the price of coronary stents, the government is working on measures to bring down the expenditure on knee surgeries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today.

In his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort here, he said that cheap medicines, being made available through 'Jan Aushadhi Kendras' have been a blessing for the poor.

"The expenditure on conducting operations, on stents have gone down in our country. In the coming days, all facilities for carrying out knee operations will also be made available.

"It is our endeavour that such expenses for the poor and the middle class goes down and we are taking steps for that," he said.

The government on February 13 slashed by up to 85 per cent the prices of life-saving coronary stents, tiny metal tubes inserted into the narrowed coronary arteries, a move which has provided relief to lakhs of cardiac patients.

Modi further said that the government has now decided to make dialysis facilities, which were earlier available only at the state headquarters, would be made available in each district centres of the country.

He said that the facility has been made available at 350 -400 districts.

The Prime Minister also spoke about the amended maternity benefit law under which paid leave have been extended to 26 weeks from the earlier 12.

Speaking about the achievements in the education sector, Modi said that the government's plan to set up 20 world-class universities was a crucial step.

"We have taken an important step in the education sector of creating 20 world-class universities. The government will not interfere in their functioning and also ready to provide them monetary help of upto Rs 1,000 crore.

"In the past three years, we have also opened six new Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), seven Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) and eight Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs), besides connecting education sector with job opportunities," he said.