With an aim to treat various diseases and promote healthy living in a natural way, the Health and Family Welfare Minister Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu and Member Parliament Mrs. Parneet Kaur today laid the foundation stone for a AYUSH hospital at Dayalpura village in the SAS Nagar district.Speaking at the state-level inauguration event at Dayalpura, Mr. Balbir Singh Sidhu informed that the first-of-its-kind AYUSH hospital in the state would be built on more than 9-acre land which has been donated by a family of the village. He said that the 50-bedded hospital which will provide check-up and treatment services under the Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy medical systems, will be completed within a period of one year and the estimated budget for the project is 7 crore rupees. ‘This is a valuable gift for the people of the state on the 550 birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev JI. Once the hospital is completed, people would not have to go to the southern states for Naturopathy treatment of their diseases, Mr. Sidhu added.The minister said that Punjab government under the leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh, is giving high priority to the health sector in the state and the process of complete transformation of government health institutions is under way so that people can have free and easy access to quality and standardized medical services.
He further said that under the prestigious Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojna (SSBY), 50 lakh health cards have been issued and free treatment to the tune of 55 crore rupees has been given to the eligible beneficiaries so far.While acceding to the long-pending demand of the residents of the area, Mr Sidhu announced that the Community Health Centre at Dhakoli near Zirakpur, will soon be upgraded to a 50-bedded Sub-Divisional Hospital (SDH) so that round-the-clock emergency services and specialist doctor’s services can be made available there. He said the decision has been taken in view of the increasing population of the area.At the event, Member of Parliament from Patiala Mrs Parneet Kaur thanked the Sodhi family of the village who has donated the land for construction of the hospital. Stressing upon the importance of naturopathy treatments, she said that people now are showing much interest in natural way of treatment which helps the body heal itself. She said that the AYUSH hospital will prove a boon for the nearby residents.Among the prominent personalities present on the occasion, were Managing Director PHSC and Commissioner AYUSH Mr. Manvesh Singh Sidhu, Congress district president Mr. Deepinder Singh Dhillon, Punjab Infotech Chariman Mr S.M.S. Sandhu, Political Secretary to the health minister Mr. Harkesh Chand Machhli Kalan, ADC (D) Mrs Aashika Jain, Director Ayurveda Punjab Dr. Rakesh Sharma and Civil Surgeon Mohali Dr. Manjit Singh etc.