Farishtey & Mohalla Clinics — Delhi govt schemes for Punjab

The Delhi government’s flagship schemes Mohalla Clinic and Farishtey remained the core thrust of the Bhagwant Mann government’s first budget, when it came to health sector. ₹4,731 crore have been allocated for health this year, and the finance minister claimed it is 23.8% increase over that of the budget for the previous fiscal (2021-22).

Finance minister Harpal Cheema said the state government proposes to establish Mohalla/pind Clinics in order to decentralise the public health services to the grassroot level.

As per budget announcement, this year the government plans to establish 117 Mohalla Clinics for which an initial allocation of ₹77 crore is being proposed. As many as 75 of these will become operational by August 15.

The state government also announced yet another scheme on the pattern of Delhi to deal with casualties in road accidents due to the dearth of timely medical help. Cheema said the AAP government is extremely sensitive to the cause and would try to make sure that road accident victims are saved.

For this, a scheme on the pattern of ‘Farishtey’ scheme in New Delhi would be launched in Punjab whereby anyone can take a road accident victim(s) and get them admitted to any hospital. Victims will be given free treatment and the helper would also be felicitated.

The government also proposes to establish Estate Management Unit, which will exclusively look into upkeep and maintenance of the basic substructure needs of hospitals/ health facilities.

The government has also announced to set up two superspecialty hospitals, in Patiala and Faridkot, in the coming two years. Another three will be opened by 2027.