To strengthen the state's healthcare capabilities amid the COVID-19 surge, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ordered the immediate recruitment of 400 nurses and 140 technicians to the government medical colleges.
He also directed the department to expedite the medical college projects approved or in progress in the state so that Punjab is not left behind in developing medical infrastructure.
The chief minister, who also raised the issue during the VC meeting earlier with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said he would be writing soon to the PM seeking a direction to PGI satellite centers and military hospitals in Punjab for Covid beds to citizens. Pre-fabricated structures could be used for this purpose, he stressed.
Virtually reviewing the functioning of the Department of Medical Education and Research, particularly in the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis, the chief minister also approved the amendment in rules for re-designating the department faculty members in a time-bound manner to bring them at par with their peers on this count.
Immediate hiring is on
On the recruitment drive, the chief minister said of the 900 posts sanctioned after the department restructuring, 400 should be filled immediately in phase 1 with the hiring of nurses.
In hiring technicians, reasonable weightage should be given to those who are already working on contract with the Punjab government, he said. Medical Education Minister OP Soni shared details of the various hospitals and medical colleges coming up in Mohali, Hoshiarpur, and Kapurthala.
Setting up of medical colleges
Efforts are also being made to establish medical colleges at Malerkotla and Gurdaspur with the Central government's approval, he said, adding that the satellite centre of PGI will also be commissioned at Sangrur this year while construction of satellite centre of PGI at Ferozepur had started.
Further, approval has been recently received from ICMR, New Delhi, for setting up of National Institute of Virology at Mohali, he disclosed. Currently, the state has two universities under the department—Baba Farid University of Health Sciences Faridkot and Guru Ravidas Ayurveda University Hoshiarpur.
There are three government medical colleges, two government dental colleges, one government ayurvedic college, and 12 nursing schools/colleges under the department. There are six councils for the registration of various doctors, pharmacists, and nurses.
The department has already been restructured, keeping in view the latest norms of the National Medical Commission, Dental Council of India, and Central Council of Indian Medicine, the minister, said budget provisions of Rs.550 crore in 2020-21
What is already been done
Talking about the initiatives undertaken by the department because of the Covid epidemic over the past year, the minister said they provided 1,498 isolation beds in three government medical colleges, of which 361 were ICU beds.
Further, seven VRDL labs were now capable of testing 35,000 RT-PCR tests daily, and around 54 lakh tests had been conducted so far. Plasma banks had been set up in three medical colleges.
So far, said Soni, more than 14,000 Covid patients had been treated in government medical colleges, and an attendant management system had been implemented to report relatives.
Post-Covid Multispecialty OPD had been introduced for patients, and arrangements were made to look after dialysis patients and pregnant women during the Covid epidemic.A total of 1,095 additional workforces, including technicians, nurses, and MTWs, had been engaged.
