IEP Jagroan, November 1
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday announced to spruce up government healthcare infrastructure across the state for providing state of the art medical treatment and diagnostic services to people.
“During the run up for elections we had promised guarantee of quality health care to the people and no stone is being left unturned for this noble cause” said the Chief Minister, while addressing after dedicating newly built mother and child care hospital here today.
The Chief Minister said that strenuous efforts are being made to equip the government hospitals with the ultramodern facilities. Likewise, he said that a massive recruitment drive has been embarked to fill all the vacant lying government posts in the health department. Bhagwant Mann said that the sole purpose is to ensure that people get the best healthcare facilities in the state.
The Chief Minister further said that along with upgrading the existing government hospitals with latest facilities due focus is also being laid on opening of new hospitals. He envisioned that Punjab will soon emerge as a hub of Healthcare and Medical education. Bhagwant Mann said that 16 new medical colleges will be constructed in the coming five years thereby enhancing the total tally of medical colleges to 25 thus transforming Punjab into a hub of medical education.
The Chief Minister envisioned that the newly constructed mother and child hospitals will act as a catalyst to impart quality health care to the pregnant women and newly born child. He said that the move is aimed to ensure that people get quality health services in these hospitals. Bhagwant Mann said that more such hospitals will be constructed across the state in coming days.
The Chief Minister further said that the prestigious G-20 summit, scheduled to be held in the holy city of Amritsar in March-2023, will promote Punjab as a preferred destination for business on the international level. He said that the summit will also provide a stage to the government to showcase its achievements and facilities for setting up new businesses. Bhagwant Mann said that this is a golden opportunity when Punjab can be highlighted as a land of best opportunities adding that the state is fortunate to have got this opportunity to host this event, in which leading countries from around the world will discuss education and labour and other crucial issues.
The Chief Minister asserted that the entire process of ongoing procurement and lifting of the paddy crop will be completed within a week. Reiterating the firm commitment of the state government to procure every single grain of paddy, Bhagwant Mann said that he is personally monitoring the entire procurement process to ensure that farmers do not face any sort of inconvenience. He said that during the current procurement season not even a single complaint has been received from the farmers across the state.
Listing the pro-people initiatives taken by the state government in the last seven months, the Chief Minister said that from July 1 onwards the Punjab government has provided 600 units of free power to people in every bill cycle. He said that as a result of this around 50 lakh households out of total 72.66 lakh, which was roughly 68.71 %of total) have got zero power bill in the month of September. Bhagwant Mann said that this initiative has given a major relief to the people of the state.
Likewise, the Chief Minister said that the Punjab government has launched a major crackdown against the corrupt leaders who had plundered the wealth of the state. Bhagwant Mann said that his government has launched anti- corruption helpline after which around 250 corrupt elements have been put behind the bars. He said that only an honest and committed government can take such path breaking and pro-people initiatives.
The Chief Minister further said that the state government has passed the historic ‘One MLA, One Pension’ bill which stipulates that each MLA will get only a single pension, instead of the earlier provision of permitting multiple pensions for every term. He said that similarly the state government has given more than 20,000 government jobs to the youth purely on merit basis. Bhagwant Maan said that the process to regularize 36,000 contractual employees in the state has also started and recently only the state government has issued notification for regularizing services of around 9000 employees.
The Chief Minister also said that in order to provide quality and timely health services to the people 100 Aam Aadmi clinics have been dedicated to the people to mark 75th Independence Day. He said that these clinics are offering 41 health packages with nearly 100 clinical tests free of cost to the people. Bhagwant Mann envisaged that these clinics will act as the cornerstone in the revamp of the healthcare system in Punjab.
Earlier, MLA Jagroan Sarvjit Kaur Manuke welcomed the Chief Minister and other dignitaries.
Prominent among the present on occasion included Cabinet Minister Chetan Singh Jauremajra, MLAs Sarvjit Kaur Manuke, Hakam Singh Thekedar, Madan Lal Bagga, Ashok Parashar Pappi, Hardeep Singh Mundian and Jiwan Singh Sangowal, Secretary health Ajoy Sharma, Special Principal Secretary to CM Ravi Bhagat, Chairman Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank Suresh Goyal, Chairman Forest Development Corporation Navjot Singh Jarg, IG Ludhiana range SPS Parmar, DC Surabhi Malik, SSP Harjeet Singh and others.
