‘Earn While You Learn’: Punjab govt to launch new programme

To meet the shortage of doctors in the government hospitals of Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government would soon start a programme ‘Earn While You Learn’ in which MBBS pass-out students will be deputed into the healthcare institutions with attractive salaries, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh, Saturday.

He said that the MBBS pass-out students will receive a salary of Rs 70,000 besides facilities of accommodation and others to be provided by the government. He termed the programme as a revolutionary concept to ramp up secondary healthcare in Punjab.

He said that MBBS pass-out students would get on-the-job training, both practical and theoretical, from the teachers of medical colleges through online mode. He also said that the pay of super-specialists was being revised to attract more doctors into government services.

Further, to cope with the shortage of gynaecologists and other specialists, Singh said the government was planning to bring out a policy to hire highly qualified private doctors at the local level for surgery-based procedures. He said the Punjab government would also start a district residency programme to give quality treatment to patients with the support of doctors from medical colleges and private hospitals.

Ensuring the availability of doctors, medicines, and testing facilities in every government hospital is the topmost priority, said Singh who added that the government was committed to sprucing up the health infrastructure in the state and hence made a significant allocation in the budget recently.

The minister pointed out that the Aam Aadmi Clinics were started with a view to providing world-class health services to the people at their doorsteps, and added that 142 more such clinics are to be opened soon. He said that the wellness centres were already functioning and with Aam Aadmi Clinics, the people had been getting quality healthcare services where 80 different medicines and 41 tests were being carried out free of cost.

The health minister said that in Ludhiana, 30 new Aam Aadmi Clinics and 110 CM Ki Yogshalas would be opened in days to come. The Indian Express