150 new hospitals by April: Kalia

He said the state would have 150 new hospitals by April next year out of which 70 would be ready by December end this year.

He said that at least 3,000 fresh doctors would be recruited during the next one-and-a-half year.The primary health care approach would be strengthened in a big way in Punjab by conceiving a primary health care project with world bank aid. Under this project the existing capacity of the buildings at primary level will be increased and primary health centres be upgraded, he added.

The minister said primary health services would also be improved in the urban areas of the state and a pilot project in this regard had been launched in Amritsar at a cost of Rs.11.25 crore. Under this project five urban health centres and a 150-bed civil hospital were being constructed. They would start functioning by march next year to coincide with the tricentenary celebrations of the birth of the Khalsa.

He said all the newly established 89 focal points would have primary health centre level hospitals which would be built at a cost of Rs 6.33 crore. At 115 focal points, doctors would be engaged on contractual basis for attending to emergencies till the time regular doctors were appointed, he added. To provide medical help at the door steps of the rural people two mobile medical clinics will be introduced in two blocks of the state on a pilot basis during 1998-99, he said.

Referring to national health programmes, he claimed that the comparative vital rates of Punjab were better than the national level. Birth rate, death rate and infant mortality rate stood at 23.7, 7.4 and 51 respectively whereas national rates were 27.5,9.0, 72 for the same period, he said.