11 OPD services inaugurated at AIIMS Bathinda

As many as 11 OPD services, including general medicine, gynae and obstetrics, general surgery, urology, pediatric surgery, ophthalmology and psychiatry, were made operational at the AIIMS Bathinda on Monday.

The OPD services were inaugurated by Union ministers Harsh Vardhan and Harsimrat Kaur Badal here.

While inaugurating these services, Union Health Minister Vardhan said the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bathinda will be fully functional by June 2020 and PGIMER Chandigarh is the mentor institute supporting it.

The minister announced that a satellite centre for PGIMER Chandigarh will come up at Ferozepur at a cost of Rs 450 crore and will be operational by 2022.

"The operationalisation of the OPD services today will immensely benefit the people of Bathinda and the nearby regions with high quality and affordable medical services," Vardhan said.

The first batch of 50 MBBS students of AIIMS Bathinda has been started from the academic year 2019-20 at the Baba Faridkot University.

The Union Cabinet had approved the proposal for establishment of an AIIMS at Bathinda in Punjab at a cost of Rs 925 crores on July 27, 2016.

"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, health has been positioned as one of the top priorities of the government," Vardhan said.

"The government, through its continual efforts, aims to ensure that assured, affordable and quality health services are provided to all.

"It is a reflection of the commitment of the government to the health sector that the numbers of AIIMS has now increased to 21 and work is also progressing on setting up 157 medical colleges mainly in the aspirational districts of the country to ensure that people there are provided superior health services," the minister said.

The Union health minister also stated that while comprehensive primary healthcare was being provided through 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) under Ayushman Bharat, 70 lakh people were benefitted by the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna.

He also highlighted the efforts being made by the government through the Fit India movement and the Eat Right India campaign.

"To meet global targets of universal health coverage, we have expanded the basket of vaccines, now immunisation against 12 vaccine preventable diseases is available under UIP," he stated.

Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal said the new AIIMS will help the people of the region. Both the Union ministers visited the newly opened OPD block.

SAD president and MP Sukhbir Singh Badal, Joint Secretary of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry Sunil Sharma and PGIMER Chandigarh Director Prof. Jagat Ram also spoke on the occasion.