CHANDIGARH, July 21: In order to ensure world-class healthcare services in the state as desired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh on Friday extended an invitation to the Corporate Hospitals to collaborate with the Government to provide quality healthcare services to people at subsidised and affordable prices.
“This collaboration will not affect the general public and they will not have to pay any extra expenses as the government will only take the services of doctors of leading lights of healthcare providers or corporate hospitals at the Government Health Institutions to overcome the deficiency of super specialist services,” he clarified while adding that this will be managed and funded by the government.
He said that this initiative will also help in improving the healthcare services in under-served districts in the state to realise the dream of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to make state a Rangla Punjab. Corporate hospitals can also help by training doctors & paramedics staff, he added. He also said that there is a lot of scope for telemedicine & Artificial Intelligence in the Healthcare sector.
The Health Minister was presiding over an interactive session "Northern Region Roundtable on Healthcare Priorities of Punjab and the Way Forward” organised by NATHEALTH— an apex body of all the healthcare stakeholders in India, at the Indian School of Business in Mohali. Head, Corporate Affairs and CSR, Fortis HealthCare Ltd Manu Kapila, Secretary General NATHEALTH Siddhartha Bhattacharya, COO Fortis Hospital Ashish Bhatia, Chair NATHEALTH Northern Region Ashwajit Singh, Prof. Sarang Deo and National Lead NATHEALTH Vrinda Chaturvedi were speakers during the occasion.
He said that Punjab Government is aiming to make medical education available for the larger section of society by making it more affordable and better in terms of quality. He said they are focusing on strengthening the three wings of healthcare— primary, secondary and tertiary, along with establishing CM di Yogshala for prevention.
Dr Balbir Singh said that they have set up Aam Aadmi Clinics and also upgrading dispensaries in the state, which are enough to ensure primary care, while, subdivisional and districts will be soon equipped with the latest radiology machines to take care of the secondary care and people can get X-rays, Ultra-Sound, MRI, CT Scan, etc done at these hospitals. To provide tertiary care, we are revamping all the Medical Colleges in the state, he added.
Meanwhile, this remarkable confluence saw leaders from Punjab medical council, IMA, Nursing Federations, private providers, diagnostics, med tech, home healthcare, and pharma companies coming together to shape the future of healthcare in Punjab. This event gave a platform to discuss the key health priorities of the state, pivotal state-related healthcare challenges, possible ways to explore public-private partnerships and how cohesive efforts from all the stakeholders can help shape the healthcare disposal of the state.