LUDHIANA: Punjab Chief Minister,  Parkash Singh Badal, Saturday called upon the big  industrialists and  Corporate Houses to set up  a Corpus fund with equal contribution  from the state government for providing highly specialized health Care facilities to the poor and under privileged  sections of the society. The entire system would be managed  and operationalized by the Ttrust mutually formed by the industrialists.
        

He said this fund would be efficiently used for the poor patients, who
were deprived of the basic medical facilities due to penury. Mr. Badal
also mentioned that the state government was contemplating to start
Medical Insurance Scheme for the poor and needy to enable them to seek
basic Medical and Health Care facilities.  

He also pointed out that the state government has appointed Dr. J S Bajaj, an eminent Doctor of International repute as Vice Chairman of the  State Planning   Board and had been  entrusted with the responsibility of revamping  the entire Health, Medical Education & Research Sector, which was in shambles over the past many years. He said that plans were afoot to modernized the government Medical College at Amritsar at a cost of Rs 100- 150 crore within one and a half year. Under this Action Plan, the entire building of the College would be re-constructed and Ultra Modern equipment would be provided to ensure  super specialty facilities to the patients.

Like wise, Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences Jalandhar would  also  be run on the pattern of AIIMS, as the  talks were in progress with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare GOI. All the district Hospitals would be linked with PGI and three State Medical Colleges at Amritsar, Faridkot and Patiala for Teli-Medicine facility during the current financial year, he added.
         
Showing deep concern over the growing menace of drug
addiction, the Chief Minister said that the state government has
chalked out a time bound strategy to check this social evil
effectively, which has brought our youth at the brink of disaster. He
said 20 beds in each   100-bedded government hospital had been
reserved for the treatment of drug addicts. Badal  also emphasized
the need for preventive care rather than curative measures. He asked
the Medical fraternity to come forward to educate the people about the
ill  effects and causes of common diseases like Hypotension, Diabetes
and renal failure, so that the people could be saved from these fatal
diseases by taking preventive measures, because  prevention was always
better than cure.

Lauding the  proposal of the Management of DMC Group under the
stewardship of Sunil Kant Munjhal for opening Health Units in
remote rural areas of the state,  Badal said that  the state
government was ready to  offer requisite   land  free of cost  and
assured full support and cooperation to them.
         
Speaking on the occasion, Medical Education and Research
Minister Tiksan Sud said that the SAD- BJP was committed to
provide basic Health facilities to the people of the state at
affordable rates and quality medical education to the students.
Responding to the demand raise by  Munjal, he said that the state
government was already in process to rationalise the fee structure of
the medical colleges.
          
Member Parliament  from Ludhiana . Sharanjit Singh Dhillon in his address said that the Management and Faculty of high caliber of DMC would prove to be a mile stone in setting a bench mark for the quality health Services and Medical Education not within the state, but in the country also.

Among others who spoke on the occasion included  Sunil Kant Munjal President Management of the DMCH and Hero DMC Heart Institute, Mr. D S Cheema Advisor to CM Punjab,  Principal DMCH Dr Daljit Singh princvipal DMC&H, Dr. G S Wander, and Dr. Raju Chheena MS, DMC.

Prominent among others who were present on this occasion included Rajinder Bhandari President state BJP,  Prem Kumar Gupta Secy DMC, Maheshinder Singh Grewal Ex-Minister, Inder Mohan Singh Kadian, district President YAD,  Sandeep Puri and Pritam Singh Bharowal.