37 portable Aam Aadmi Clinics in five poll-bound MCs of Punjab soon

Sangrur: After converting primary health centres (PHCs) and dispensaries into Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs) and using defunct buildings of sewa kendras for the same, the health department will now be setting up 37 porta cabins to expand its ambitious AACs project in the state, especially in five election-bound municipal corporations (MCs).

Porta cabins are transportable and portable structures. In the absence of space and land for construction of permanent buildings, these porta cabins will be used to house Aam Aadmi Clinics, said officials.

The term of MCs in Jalandhar, Patiala, Ludhiana and Amritsar ended in January this year. While, the Phagwara MC will go for polls for the first time.

According to the department, of the 75 AACs to be set up in these cities, 37 — three in Phagwara, four in Amritsar, six in Jalandhar, eight in Patiala and 16 in Ludhiana — will be opened in porta cabins.

Over 362 Mohalla Clinics are already being run from porta cabins in Delhi.

Officials said the decision to set up porta cabins would help tackle the issue of land constraints.

An official of the department said, “Under the third phase of the project, the department is facing problems such as finding dedicated infrastructure, space and building to set up new AACs. Getting land and constructing buildings is a lengthy process.”

In the first two phases of the project, the department set up 504 AACs in the state and majority of these were established in the buildings of PHCs, sewa kendras and rural dispensaries. However, soon after the launch of the project, the government embroiled in various controversies, including utilisation of buildings of sewa kendras and converting dispensaries and PHCs into AACs as these healthcare institutes were already offering health services to public.

The government also faced several protests for shifting rural medical officers (RMOs) and other staff of dispensaries to clinics. Emergency services of Community Health Centres (CHCs) were also affected as doctors performing medical services were deployed at clinics for OPD services.

Besides, a private firm roped in to conduct tests of patients visiting clinics had also backed out recently.

Confirming the development, Abhinav Trikha, managing director of the National Health Mission, said, “We are setting up 37 clinics in porta cabins under the third phase of the project.”

Dr Ravinder Pal Kaur, officiating director of the health services, and Dr Sangeeta, nodal officer for the AACs project, refused to comment.