Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who assumed charge as the Minister of State for Health on Monday, vowed to take forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mission of a clean and healthy India. Enhancing awareness on public health and reducing people's dependence on "medicines and needles" will be his top priority, he said.
He said cleanliness and good health were linked and vowed to take forward Modi's mission of a clean and healthy India with dedication.
Choubey is known for the slogan, "Ghar-ghar me ho shouchalaya ka nirman, tabhi hoga ladli bitiya ka kanyadaan" and has helped in constructing 11,000 toilets for Mahadalit families in Bihar.
"My motto will be to spread awareness about public health so that people's dependence on medicines and needles is reduced," the 64-year-old Minister said.Terming as unfortunate the death of 49 infants in a month in the Farrukhabad district hospital in Uttar Pradesh, Choubey said that the Government will fight these challenges.
Most of the children died from "perinatal asphyxia", a condition in which the child cannot breathe properly, officials said on Monday.
Choubey, a prominent Brahmin face from Bihar, performed an elaborate puja and took charge amid chantings of sacred hymns. He immediately got down to work by signing a file relating to laying the foundation stone of a new medical college at Nahaan in Shimla.