Hyderabad, May 9 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi was pleasantly surprised with the spirituality of eminent breast surgeon P. Raghu Ram when the latter felicitated him with a specially-made 'Vastram'.

The surgeon, who along with S. Vijayanthi met the Prime Minister in Hyderabad on Tuesday night, said 'vastram' was gifted to him from Linga Bhairavi Mandir.

Raghu Ram is the founding director of KIMS-Ushalakshmi Centre for Breast Diseases and CEO of Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation.

"When I said to Narendra Modi ji that the principal source of his strength and power emanates from his late Amma's blessings and that my prayer and wish is that the Vastram from Maa Bhairavi Temple gives him even more energy through the divine Devi Shakthi in his selfless service to the nation, he was touched and remarked you're a doctor and you are spiritual too," revealed the doctor.

The breast surgeon explained to him his take on the strength of spirituality and meditation.

'The Prime Minister was pleasantly surprised that I spend two hours in the prayer room every day and was in admiration of my knowledge in this aspect of life,' the breast surgeon added.

After the meeting, PM Modi had shared on 'X' that Raghu Ram is a Padma awardee and has done pioneering work in curing breast cancer. "We discussed aspects relating to healthcare infrastructure in India. He also appreciated our Government's efforts in this regard."

Ragu Ram complimented PM Modi for having taken the landmark decision to extend the Ayushman Bharat facilities to senior citizens, which promises to be a "game changer" in terms of providing the much-needed financial assistance to the ever-increasing elderly population in the country.

As Breast cancer is the commonest cancer affecting women in India, PM Modi and Raghu Ram discussed ways in which Breast cancer Care and Cancer Care in general could be improved in the country.

Ensuring that the population-based breast cancer screening programme that is being implemented under the auspices of National Health Mission (NHM) becomes even more robust, making available several more population-based breast cancer registries particularly in rural areas and cancer to be classified as a "Notifiable Disease", are some of the areas discussed during the meeting.

Raghu Ram revealed that PM Modi autographed the editorial page of the very first quarterly issue of 'Pink Connexion', South Asia's first and one of its kind breast health magazine.

/IANS