Punjab to operationalise mohalla clinics on I-Day: Health minister

Health and family welfare minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra on Tuesday said that the Punjab government will operationalise mohalla clinics on the Independence Day

Health and family welfare minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra on Tuesday said that the Punjab government will operationalise mohalla clinics on the Independence Day.

Chetan Singh Jouramajra, who visited the civil hospital in Jalandhar on Tuesday, said the AAP government has been working tirelessly to bring major reforms in the healthcare field. (HT Photo)

Jouramajra said these clinics being set up across the state would enable decentralised delivery as well as strengthening of primary health care to people at their doorsteps. It will help increase access to an expanded range of services, reduce out-of-pocket expenditure, improve disease surveillance and strengthen referral linkages especially for the vulnerable and marginalised sections, he said.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had recently stated that 75 mohalla clinics, being set up on the lines of Delhi, will be made operational in the first phase (on August 15) and 109 by the end of this financial year.

The health minister further said that every mohalla clinic will be staffed with a medical officer, pharmacist, clinical assistant and sweeper-cum-helper. “The human resources at Mohalla clinics are to be empanelled on per patient basis. These clinics will provide outpatient services for a range of curative care for common illnesses, first aid for injuries, and dressing and management of minor wounds,” he said, adding, “Referral and subsequent follow up for specialised care will also be done through these clinics.”

‘Health policy soon’

Jouramajra, who visited the civil hospital in Jalandhar on Tuesday, said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has been working tirelessly to bring major reforms in the healthcare field and ground realities are being ascertained by visiting division-level hospitals.

He said the state government would soon introduce a health policy to benefit the common man and improve the health facilities, adding that there was an urgent need to set up more cancer hospitals and dialysis units. “Besides filling up vacant posts in government hospitals, the infrastructure will also be improved,” he said.