Access to Anti-Rabies Vaccination (ARV) was limited to just 48 Primary Health Centres, forcing victims – often children, the elderly and daily wage workers – to travel long distances, wait for hours, lose wages and, in many cases, abandon the crucial five-dose vaccination schedule midway.
In a major push to strengthen public healthcare services, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday announced the opening of 200 new Aam Aadmi clinics across the state, raising the total number to 1,081.
The BJP spokesperson Shergill said basic health services have become inaccessible to rural areas of the state due to the shutting down of rural dispensaries by the Aam Aadmi Party Government.
The Delhi chief minister was speaking at the launch of 80 more Aam Aadmi Clinics in the state with which the total tally of such operational clinics has gone up to 580.
The chief minister asserted that every effort will be made to further strengthen the ethos of communal harmony and brotherhood in the state.
The party reacted strongly in the wake of the Union government's 6 February letter that it won't be able to provide the next instalment of around Rs 546 crore to the state under the NHM as the state government deviated from the mandate branded HWCs as Aam Aadmi Clinics.
If the party is so keen for its own promotion, it should set up its own clinics instead of naming government health facilities.
Party spokesman Jaiveer Shergill said the move to open 400 more such clinics would lead to closure of rural dispensaries.
The Chief Minister said that the State Government is committed to complete transformation of the education, health and employment sectors in the State.
Punjab is going to script a new success story in the healthcare sector with 500 such clinics
