Chandigarh, May 20 (IANS) In a bid to provide the best healthcare services free of cost, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday announced to launch his government's flagship programne of Mohalla Clinics, with 75 clinics to be dedicated in the first phase on August 15.
Chairing a high-level meeting here, Mann said his government would be fulfilling one of the major poll promises with setting up of these clinics both in urban and rural areas in a phased manner on the pattern of Delhi.
He also gave nod to convert the non-functional Sewa Kendras across the state into Mohalla Clinics, thereby refurbishing such complexes, while directing the Principal Secretary, Public Works, to work out modalities for sprucing-up the interiors of Sewa Kendras so that they could be suitably converted into Mohalla Clinics.
The Chief Minister 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 bringing a majority of people residing in rural areas within the ambit of Mohalla Clinics, he said.
Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, informed the Chief Minister about the already existing network of nearly 3000 sub-centres in rural areas being efficiently manned by the trained paramedic staff headed by Community Health Officers.
He mooted a proposal to convert these sub-centres also into Mohalla Clinics, thus widening its scope and outreach so that the maximum number of people residing in villages could be benefitted from the healthcare initiative.
Chairing a meeting of the Special Task Force (STF) team led by its chief Harpreet Sidhu here, Mann said neither political persons nor officers would be spared if found conniving with the drug mafia. He told the police officers to work freely without any political pressure with a sharpened focus to make Punjab a drug-free state.
According to the SHO of Cantonment police station, Rajeev Singh, Ram Lakhan's wife informed the police that her husband had confessed to killing their son following a fight with her. A police team went looking for the 'body' but could not find the child.
Police said that doctors gave him enema to recover the jewellery from his stomach. The man along with his girlfriend was invited by a friend for Eid celebrations at her home.
"The vehicle was on its way from Udhampur to Jammu when it went out of the driver's control and rolled down into a deep gorge near Jambhu Zoo."In the incident, three persons identified as Gurdeep Singh, Sham Lal and Vikas Kumar, all residents of Punjab, died on the spot".
Asking Mann not to become a puppet in the hands of Kejriwal, the SAD President said: "The Chief Minister should take review meetings of the law and order situation as well as ensure those responsible for flaring communal tensions in the recent Patiala clash are brought to task instead of keeping himself busy by deputing Punjab Police teams to Delhi to arrest opponents of AAP."
