Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked the Health Department to tie up with the World Class Autism Centre for providing the best treatment facilities to the patients inflicted with Autism here at the upcoming Advanced Autism and Research Care Centre, first of its kind not within the country but across the globe.Addressing a select gathering here after laying the foundation stone of Advanced Autism and Research Care Centre here in Sector 79 at the cost of Rs.16 crore, the Chief Minister said that he was extremely pained to know about the trauma and hardships faced by the children suffering from Autism and especially their parents for their upbringing right from their birth, from a doctor in his medical team whose child was also suffering from Autism since birth. Mr. Badal said, “His doctor’s ordeal in nurturing his Autistic child inspired me to do something tangible for the welfare of such children and this Advanced Centre was a positive step in that direction.”Mr. Badal asked both the Advisor and Principal Secretary Health to work out modalities to ink an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with some world acclaimed Autism institute to bring the best faculty and staff to provide the best treatment facilities to the children inflicted with Autism and training to their parents to handle them with utmost care and patience.
Listing the major initiatives of SAD-BJP government in the healthcare sector, the Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone of the upcoming All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) over an area of 200 acre at a cost of Rs.926 crore at Bathinda. Likewise, Homi Bhabha Cancer Care & Research Institute in collaboration with Tata Memorial Centre was coming up at New Chandigarh at a cost of Rs.480 crore. Punjab was the first state to launch Chief Minister Cashless Cancer Care Scheme besides upgrading infrastructure its medical colleges at Patiala, Faridkot and Amritsar besides setting up a 100 bedded Advanced Cancer Institute at Bathinda for providing best treatment to the patients suffering from cancer. Recently, the state government has taken a major initiative to provide free treatment to the patients suffering from Hepatitis-C.Earlier, Dr. Gurpreet Singh member from Chief Minister’s Medical Team welcomed Mr. Badal and gave a brief account of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and said that the parents of these differently abled children should motivate them to excel in their fields of interests like music, dance, painting, sports etc. He thanked the Chief Minister for this unique initiative and hoped this centre would go a long way in mitigating the sufferings of children inflicted with Autism and their parents.
Talking to the media persons on the sidelines of the function, the Chief Minister reacted sharply to the irresponsible utterances of the MLAs who left the SAD-BJP alliance government and joined Congress, saying such turncoats follow a pro-party line while they were a part of the alliance and moment they are out they start criticizing us because their sole motive was to secure ticket from any party by hook or crook to pursue their vested interests.
Asked to comment on Kejriwal’s statement to give the post of Deputy Chief Minister to a Dalit, the Chief Minister said, “How merely a post of Deputy Chief Minister will help to transform the destiny of under privileged sections of the society when you are not sincere towards them from the core of your heart.” He said it was on record that SAD-BJP launched many pro-poor schemes like Atta-Dal, Shagun, Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana and several others to improve their economic lot without any political motive.Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting included; Advisor Health to the State government Dr. KK Talwar, Principal Secretary Health Mrs. Vini Mahajan, Special Secretary Health Mr. Vikas Garg, Director Medical Education & Research Dr. Manjit Kaur Mohi, Director Health Dr. HS Bali, Deputy Commissioner Mr. DS Mangat and SSP Mohali Mr. Gurpreet Singh Bhullar besides the parents of children inflicted with Autism.