Punjab Govt plans to covert 550 rural dispensaries into Aam Aadmi Clinics

Chandigarh: With many rural dispensaries remaining shut down due to a shortage of doctors and staff, the Punjab government has decided to convert rural dispensaries into Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs) to provide better healthcare facilities to rural people.

The government, which aims to provide healthcare easily accessible to the public by opening Aam Aadmi Clinics suffered major inconvenience at the rural dispensaries due to the fact that most of the doctors were moved to different AACs which made medical facilities inaccessible to the rural population.

According to a media report in The Tribune, around 550 rural dispensaries functioning under the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats will be converted into AACs. The conversion will take place in a phased manner.

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal will dedicate 80 Aam Aadmi Clinics to the people of the state. With this, 580 ‘Aam Aadmi Clinics’ will be operational in the state to provide free and quality healthcare services to the people.

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The Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic has been conceptualized as a mechanism to provide quality primary health care services accessible within the rural communities in Punjab at their doorstep. These health facilities cater to the needs of not only the population of Punjab but also the migratory and floating populations from neighbourhood states, which constituted a considerable patient load. Besides, these clinics fill the gap in services where poor and vulnerable population has no/limited access to the primary health care services within their reach.

However, the subsidiary health centres commonly known as rural dispensaries that dispense medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment to the rural population became challenging for the people since the services started to shut down due to a shortage of staff.

Earlier in May, around 16 doctors from rural dispensaries were shifted to AACs which also include pharmacists and Class IV staff. One dispensary caters to six villages and the fact that most of the staff were being shifted, the dispensaries began to close down in a few districts of Punjab.

According to sources in the Health Department, all civil surgeons have been asked to prepare lists of centres that can be converted into AACs. In the third phase, the government plans to convert four dispensaries in each large district and two in every small district into AACs.

Appreciating the move, Dr Deepinder Bhasin, president of the Rural Medical Officers Association, Punjab said, "These dispensaries were the first line of defence against various diseases, but these were themselves suffering due to official neglect for the past 17 years."

After 17 years, the state government has released funds to rejuvenate the dispensary which will provide free medicines to the people and tests will also be absolutely free. The government has taken this step with the aim of improving primary health facilities in every village.

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