Four medical colleges to be opened in 2 yrs: Minister

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 11

State Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Tuesday said with the commencement of four medical colleges in the state in the next two years, Punjab would become a hub of medical education and overcome the shortage of doctors.

Speaking after inaugurating a charity centre in Bilga, the minister said work on Government Medical Colleges in Mohali, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur districts was ongoing and the colleges would become operational in the next two years. While classes at the Mohali college would start in the next few months, project reports of the remaining three colleges had been prepared, he said.

Sidhu said the Punjab Government was committed to ensuring providing world class health infrastructure and services to the public. He said the state government had launched the Ayushman Bharat-Sarbat Sehat Beema Yojana to provide cashless medical treatment to the poor. The minister said 470 hospitals in the state had already been empanelled and 1.05 lakh people had received treatment. The minister said the state government was working on setting up 3,000 health and wellness centres (HWC) by upgrading sub-centres.

Accompanied by Jagbir Singh Brar, Chairman of the Punjab Water Resources Management and Development Corporation Ltd, the minister visited the Bilga Primary Health Centre and checked the medical facilities being offered there. He also interacted with patients and assured of providing X-ray facility at the centre soon.

He urged NRIs to contribute to developing health infrastructure in the state. Sidhu also promised to support Nina Tangri, Member of Provincial Parliament for Mississauga-Streetsville, Ontario, Canada, and Ashwani Tangri in setting up a multispecialty hospital in the state.

Civil Surgeon Dr Gurinder Kaur Chawla, Assistant Civil Surgeon Dr Gurmeet Kaur Duggal, District Immunisation Officer Dr Seema and Epidemiologist Dr Satish Kumar were present on the occasion.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.