Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday announced his government will launch its flagship 'Mohalla clinic' programme on August 15 with 75 such facilities being inaugurated in the first phase.
Chairing a meeting of senior officers here, Mr Mann said his government would be fulfilling one of the major poll promises made by the AAP by setting up these clinics in urban and rural areas in a phased manner, according to an official statement.
These 'Mohalla clinics' will be modelled on similar facilities run by the AAP government in Delhi.
The chief minister also approved the conversion of non-functional 'Sewa Kendras' across the state into Mohalla clinics. These centre will now be refurbished based on a uniform pattern with basic interior components, including doctor's room, reception-cum-waiting area and pharmacy.
Mr Mann directed the principal secretary of the public works department to work out the modalities for sprucing up the interiors of the 'Sewa Kendras' so that these could be suitably converted into Mohalla clinics.
The now-defunct Sewa Kendras were set up to provide citizen-centric services.
Mr Mann also suggested forming a cluster of five to six adjoining villages by establishing a Mohalla clinic at a central location easily accessible to all.
This would help in bringing a majority of people residing in rural areas within the ambit of Mohalla clinics.
During the meeting, a brief presentation was made to apprise the chief minister about various options for the proposed design and layout of these Mohalla clinics.
The secretary of the health and family welfare department informed Mann about the already existing network of nearly 3,000 sub-centres in rural areas being efficiently manned by trained para-medic staff headed by community health officers.
Therefore, he mooted a proposal to convert these sub-centres too into Mohalla clinics, thus widening its scope and outreach so that the maximum number of people residing in villages can benefit from the healthcare initiative.
Mr Mann asked the secretary of health to immediately start the process to hire services of doctors and paramedics on contract basis for the clinics.
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