Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday released a series of commemorative postage stamps in the honour of 12 eminent scholars, practitioners and great master healers of Ayush Systems as he adressed an event of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) Ministry in New Delhi. The Ministry of AYUSH, a governmental body in India, aims at developing, educating and researching in the field of alternative medicine.

The modern AYUSH masters, in the honour of whom, the special stamps were released, include Dinshaw Mehta, Hakim Mohammad Abdul Aziz Lakhnawi, Swami Kuvalayananda, Hakim Mohammad Kabiruddin and Vaidya YadavJi TrikamJi Acharya among others.

"We are opening 1.5 lakh health, wellness centres, aim to build 12,000 Ayush centres, 4000 to be completed this year," the prime minister said at the Yoga Awards event held at Vigyan Bhawan in the national capital today.

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PM Modi addresses a programme of the Ayush Ministry. Watch LIVE:

Addressing a programme of the Ayush Ministry. Watch. https://t.co/4OzD9xicB7

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 30, 2019

Detailing on the benefits of government's flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme, Modi said the patients who have received free treatment under the Ayushman Bharat scheme so far, would have to spend Rs 12 thousand crores, if they were not registered under this National Health Protection Scheme.

With prevention and affordability in mind, the work is underway on the infrastructure development, the prime minister asserted, adding that the government has also decided to set up 75 new medical colleges.

READ | Ayushman Bharat scheme: Know how to avail facility and what’s the eligibility criteria

"Building of new medical colleges will not only increase treatment facilities for serious diseases, but will also add 16 thousand more MBBS seats." he added.

Modi said necessary reforms are being made for modern medicines and to bring in in more and better professionals in the field of AYUSH. He also pitched for the cultivation of different types of millets, saying the world has again started adopting nutritious diet like Jowar, Bajra, Ragi, which were once disappeared from our plates.

HIGHLIGHTS

• PM Modi vows to set up over 12,000 Ayush centres across India.
• 75 new medical colleges are also in pipeline, Modi says.
• The prime minister was addressing a Yoga event at Vigyan Bhawan.