E-Paper
PGI satellite centre at Ferozepur soon: Union health minister
Says ₹450 crore project will boost healthcare in the border district; inaugurates OPD services at Bathinda AIIMS
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday said the satellite centre of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, will be opened soon in Ferozepur to boost healthcare in the border district.
Vardhan said this after inaugurating the outpatient department (OPD) services at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bathinda, the foundation stone of which was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2016.
Responding to the address of SAD president and Ferozepur MP Sukhbir Singh Badal today, Vardhan said the Punjab government has assured full support, including providing additional land for the satellite centre project that will be built at the cost of ₹450 crore and will be completed by 2022.
He said the Centre is closely monitoring development works to ensure that indoor and trauma care facilities at Bathinda AIIMS which will get fully functional by next year. The OPD services at AIIMS will be beneficial to the people of Bathinda and the nearby regions with high-quality and affordable medical services, he said.
“In 2004, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had taken the initiative of opening of six AIIMS beyond Delhi and today the number has reached 21. The Narendra Modi government is also working on setting up 157 medical colleges, mainly in the most underdeveloped districts of various states,” he added.
The Union minister said the Centre has untaken a project to upgrade 75 district hospitals to government medical colleges to improve tertiary health infrastructure through the construction of super specialty blocks and trauma centres. “To meet global targets of universal healthcare, we have expanded the number of vaccines,” he stated.
Punjab medical education and research minister OP Soni said the state government is fully committed to supporting the central project of establishing AIIMS Bathinda.
Soni said that besides providing 175 acre land, the Punjab government ensured road connectivity, sewage laying and power connection to AIIMS. He lauded the role of Akali patriarch and former CM Parkash Singh Badal for development works during his regime.
Union food processing industries minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal said trained faculty at AIIMS will prove beneficial in pursuing research on various diseases, including cancer and hepatitis.
The institute will start courses in nursing that will open vocational opportunities to the youth from next year, she added. Harsimrat urged Soni to work beyond political lines for strengthening facilities at AIIMS and expediting food park projects in Punjab.
