NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the first healthcare and wellness centre under Ayushman Bharat Yojna, in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur.

"The Ayushman Bharat scheme is not limited to simply providing a service, but also invokes public participation so that we can create a healthy, capable and content New India," PM Modi said after launching the scheme.

Ayushman Bharat, also known as the National Health Protection Scheme, has twin missions -- first, creating a network of health and wellness centres to deliver comprehensive primary healthcare close to the community, and second, providing insurance cover to 40 per cent of India's population that is most deprived, for secondary and tertiary care, including for instance, hospitalisation costs.

It aims at covering 10 crore poor and vulnerable families and provide a cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

Modi's visit to the state coincides with the birth anniversary of Dalit icon Dr B R Ambedkar. He is the first prime minister to visit the tribal district of Bijapur, where he inaugurated a new rail line and a passenger train between Gudum and Bhanupratapur.

On his fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where assembly polls will be held later this year, PM Modi laid foundation stones for road and bridge projects worth over Rs 1,700 crore. He also inaugurated the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km-long network of fibre optics cable would be spread across the seven districts of the tribal region.