AIIMS to start off-campus health centre in Bathinda by month-end

ALSO, THE PREMIER INSTITUTE IS WORKING TO START MINOR SURGICAL INTERVENTIONS AT THE CHC IN MUKTSAR DISTRICT’S BADAL VILLAGE

BATHINDA: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bathinda, is coming up with an off-campus outdoor patient department (OPD) at an urban health centre (UHC) in the city’s Beant Nagar to reduce the institute’s patient load.

Also, the premier institute is working to start minor surgical interventions at the community health centre (CHC) in Muktsar district’s Badal village.

AIIMS executive director Dr DK Singh said the state health authorities have handed over the possession of the UHC building to the institute recently and OPD services would begin by the May-end.

“A team of 4-6 faculty members and undergraduate medical students will be deputed for the medical outreach programme at Beant Nagar on daily basis. It will ease AIIMS’ burden as a section of patients with common ailments will be examined by doctors from the institutes at a city facility,” said the director.

Located on the Bathinda-Dabwali highway at a distance of about 10km from the city’s heart, the daily average footfall of AIIMS is around 1,500.

Singh said the move to open the OPD in Bathinda city is part of AIIMS’ commitment to making quality healthcare services available to the people at their doorsteps and also providing its students and doctors with the exposure to working at the community level.

“Through these projects, our MBBS students will get realtime exposure to the basic health needs of the people at the grassroots. This will make them not only more sensitive to the ailing public in the lowest strata but also well equipped to deal with the public health problems at the community level,” he added.

After one year of undertaking a rural OPD programme at Badal village, the central institute is working to introduce surgeries.

“During the pandemic outbreak, our outreach services at Badal could not be scaled up. Since this state government’s facility at Badal village also has an operation theatre, we are contemplating offering surgical interventions to facilitate the rural population,” he said.

“However, the modalities for the upgrade of services are being finalised,” the AIIMS director added.

Located on the Bathinda-Dabwali highway at a distance of about 10km from the heart of the city, the daily average patient footfall at the Bathinda AIIMS is around 1,500.