Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal will inaugurate 400 more Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs) across Punjab, including 318 in rural areas, at a state-level function in Amritsar on January 27.
With this, the total number of such clinics in the State will go up to 500 with 100 already functional.
Announcing this during a media briefing, the state Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh said that Kejriwal, along with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, will dedicate 400 clinics to the people of Punjab “to pave way for a health revolution in the state”.
The state government, on August 15 last year on the occasion of Independence Day, inaugurated 100 Aam Aadmi clinics built in the first phase.
Cheema said that it is a matter of great pride that the health revolution started in Punjab within just a year of the formation of the Aam Aadmi Party government. “Before the elections, party chief Arvind Kejriwal had given a guarantee to the people of Punjab that to provide free treatment, Mohalla Clinics would be set up in Punjab if the government was formed. Now, our Chief Minister is fulfilling all his promises and working assiduously to fulfill his dream of making the state again as Rangla Punjab,” he said.
Talking about the success of Aam Aadmi Clinic, Health Minister Dr Balbir said that till now, more than 10 lakh people have taken advantage of Aam Aadmi Clinic and over three lakh people were examined at free of cost. Also, medicines were also given free of cost to the people.
Dr Balbir said that the first priority of AAP Government is to ensure that people of Punjab gets free education and best quality treatment in the State. “When the children of common people will get free education, free treatment, free medicines and free health check-up, they will save a lot of money. They will use this money for their daily needs. This will raise the standard of living of the common people and the society will progress in true sense,” he added.
Ministers downplays IAS Transfer’s Controversy
Punjab Cabinet Ministers downplayed the controversy regarding the transfer of senior IAS officer Ajoy Sharma from the post of Principal Secretary (Health) after he reportedly refused to approve spending Rs 30 crore for the publicity of Aam Aadmi clinics. “Our government’s focus is on providing world-class healthcare to the people of Punjab,” Cheema responded to a media query.
Opposition lashes out at AAP Govt over IAS transfer
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Monday expressed serious concern over the “trouble and turmoil” in AAP Government with an open and outright confrontation between the political executive and the bureaucracy.
Referring to the removal of the health secretary over his reported refusal to approve Rs 30 crores for advertising a government scheme whose cost was Rs 10 crores only, Warring sought a clarification from the Government on the issue saying that it was a matter of grave concern as how Punjab's money was being squandered away in such a brazenly lavish manner.
At the same time, he pointed out that it indicated a serious confrontation between the bureaucracy and the political executive, which is not good for Punjab. “The Health Secretary is not the first officer to be shunted out and he is not going to be the last one either, given the way the AAP government is being run in Punjab,” he added.
Also asking the Chief Minister to explain why AAP Government needed Rs 30 crores to advertise Mohalla clinics for which the state was spending Rs 10 crore if it was a “successful model”, senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema demanded that if the government did not have anything to hide, it should put the entire file on the issue in public domain.