New rule for appointment of MBBS doctors in Punjab: Posting at hospitals only after 2-3 years of duty at Mohalla clinic

While the rural dispensaries are still running without the required doctors, the Punjab Government has introduced the Mohalla Clinics with an aim of strengthening the rural medical service.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday dedicated 75 'Aam Aadmi Clinics' to the people of the State to mark 75 years of India's independence.

After hoisting the national flag during a state-level function at Guru Nanak Stadium here, Mr. Mann inaugurated one of the clinics at a separate event.

"Today, we dedicate 75 mohalla clinics to mark 75 years of Independence," Mr. Mann told the media. More such clinics will be launched in the coming days, he added.

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"We had promised to set up mohalla clinics in Punjab. The experiment of setting up such in Delhi has been very successful," he was quoted saying by PTI.

Responding to the Opposition's criticism of converting buildings of 'Sewa Kendras' into 'Aam Aadmi Clinics', Mr. Mann said the structures had been lying in shambles and they were converted into 'Aam Aadmi Clinics' or mohalla clinics after renovation. "We are fulfilling our promises," the chief minister claimed.

As per the latest media report by Dainik Bhaskar, with introducing the Mohalla Clinics in Punjab, the State Government is also trying to digitalize the patient information by making it online. Therefore, upon visiting the clinics for treatment, the relevant patient information from the tab will be recorded in the database of the Health Department. The benefit of such a move would be that every information related to a patient including the disease of the patient, the medicines that had been prescribed, X-ray or any other test that had been conducted, would become online with the Health Department.

In fact, local bodies Minister Inderbir Singh Nijjar has also informed the daily about the possibility for making arrangements for providing the patients with smart cards, which would record all the case history of a patient. Besides, the government is also considering to link all the information with the Aadhar card or mobile number of the patient. 

This would be proved to be extremely advantageous because in case the patient approaches a specialist doctor for some serious disease, the doctor can easily get access to the patient history. As a result, the treatment would not be delayed.

Further, the State has also fixed the timings of the Mohalla Clinics, which will remain open from 8 to 2 during summer and 9 to 3 during winter. Apart from this, the physicians, pharmacists have also been asked for writing down their mobile numbers outside the clinics for emergency. Besides, the State is also making arrangements for making sure that medicines used in all types of emergency are available at the Mohalla Clinics.