A decision to this effect was taken by Badal during a meeting of senior officers of the health department to review the plan for upgradation and renovation of health infrastructure involving an expenditure of Rs 560 crore.
Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Vinni Mahajan apprised the Chief Minister about the proposal being mooted by the health department in the meeting on the basis of a survey conducted by them.
While approving the project, the Chief Minister directed the health department to implement the proposed plan of upgradation of health infrastructure in a phased manner so that the entire work could be accomplished in a smooth and effective manner, an official release said here.
Under the first phase, he directed the health department to depute specialist doctors in all the district hospitals to ensure the best medical treatment and health care facilities to every patient especially the referral ones.
The health department had recently conducted a survey of all health institutions, including 22 district hospitals, 41 sub-divisional hospitals, 141 community health centres, 454 primary health centres and 2,950 sub-centers on the direction of the CM to assess the department's weaknesses and strengths.
After due deliberations with the doctors and paramedics concerned, Punjab Health Systems Corporation had chalked out a blueprint for the proposed upgradation and renovation of these health institutes at a cost of Rs 560 crore, the release said.
To overcome the shortage of the doctors in the state hospitals, Mahajan informed that the test for the recruitment for the MBBS doctors would be held on May 31, 2015 and they were expected to join the duty in July this year.