The Punjab Government is working hard for the development of medical education in the State. In line with this admissions in the Dr B.R. Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences will start this year, said Om Prakash Soni, Minister for Medical Education and Research during a status meeting with various officials of the Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences.Taking a serious note of the slow progress of the construction process, he directed the authorities to finalize the designs, especially the entry gate and parking lots within a week and submit them to the PWD for the tender process. He also gave strict instructions the Public Works Department to complete the entire process without any delay and ensure that the construction of the parking lot/ buildings should be completed within a year.Giving strict instructions to complete the recruitment process of the required specialist doctors for the medical college as soon as possible, the Medical Education Minister said that all the necessary conditions like staff, hospital beds, machines, basic equipment etc. should be fulfilled before the visit of NMC team, so that the classes for the first batch of students may commence.Talking to media after the meeting, Mr. Soni said that the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences is to have a 500-bed hospital while a 300-bed hospital is already functioning and 200 additional are to be operational soon.
Replying to a query about Black Fungus, he said that the impact of the disease has increased due to Corona but Punjab Government is taking necessary steps to control it. There are about 400 covid care beds available as of now in the state and there is no shortage of oxygen .The Cabinet Minister said that the Punjab Government has directed the Deputy Commissioners to take a stern action against the hospitals which are over charging and action has been taken at various places, he informed.He said that the department has 07 labs and so far about 70 lakh tests have been done by these labs. He said that if any private hospital or lab was tampering with the test results or the prescribed rates, it should be immediately brought to the notice of the authorities so that appropriate action could be taken against them.Mr. Soni said that awareness is increasing among the people about vaccination but there is a shortage of vaccines across the country. Despite this, the Punjab government is working day and night to provide maximum number of vaccines to the people. He said that State government has increased the testing of corona and about 50,000 tests are being done daily.He said that whether the third phase of Corona may come or not but the government is ramping its health infrastructure.He appealed to the people of Punjab to take all precautionary measures against corona and adhere to the guidelines issued by the Punjab government.On this occasion Advisor, Health and Medical Education Punjab Dr. K.K. Dr. Talwar, Vice Chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences. Raj Bahadur, Principal Secretary Medical Education and Research, Shri D.K. Tewari, Director Medical Education and Research Dr. Sujata Sharma, Director Principal B.R. Dr. Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences Bhavneet Bharti, Chief Architect Punjab Miss Sapna, Additional Deputy Commissioner Mrs. Ashika Jain and officials of other line departments were present.