All civil hospitals to be upgraded: Minister

Our Correspondent

Phagwara, March 18

On his maiden visit to Phagwara on Saturday, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh said all ‘referral civil hospitals’ would soon be made ‘real hospitals’. He was replying to media questions about serious patients at Phagwara Civil Hospital being referred to other civil hospitals.

Earlier, upon his arrival in Phagwara, the minister first visited the SDM office and discussed the requirement for the Civil Hospital with senior officials, including Senior Medical Officer Dr Lehmber Ram, who submitted a detailed charter of demands. Later, the minister visited the Civil Hospital. Notably, the columns of this newspaper has been quite frequently highlighting the sever staff crunch in the 110-bed Civil Hospital. It has neither any sweeper nor any ambulance driver.

Agreeing that there was a shortage of medical and paramedical staff in hospitals, he said the Health Department would soon address the scarcity of specialists by filling the vacant posts of doctor, paramedical and supporting staff, besides establishing ultra-modern health infrastructure. He said the Punjab Government would also start a district residency programme to offer quality treatment with the support of doctors from medical colleges and private hospitals.

He said medical colleges would also be set up in Sangrur and Malerkotla apart from Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala. He has also promised a trauma centre at the Phagwara Civil Hospital.

Several AAP leaders including Joginder Singh Maan, Phagwara Improvement Trust Chairman Kashmir Singh Malhi, District Planning Board Chairman Lalita Saklani and Principal Nirmal Singh were also present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Indian Medical Association, Phagwara, headed by its president Dr Jasjit Singh Virk, met the Health Minister and apprised him of difficulties faced by private doctors.

Highway patrol vehicles for emergency care

To boost emergency services in towns situated along the national highways, Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh said emergency care services would be ramped up in hospitals to save lives in road accidents. He said highway patrol vehicles would be deputed wherein trained staff would give treatment to road mishap victims. He added the government’s focus was not only on infrastructure, but creation of trained human resources to handle all kinds of emergency cases in a standardised manner in the hospitals.

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