Soni urged to help set up Dhab Khatika health centre

Manmeet Singh Gill
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, July 10

Health officials have requested Medical Education Minister and Amritsar Central MLA Om Parkash Soni to help them get control of the building of the municipal hospital at Dhab Khatika to start a community health centre.

The Health Department had renovated the building of the old hospital, constructed in1917, for Rs 2 crore as it planned to set up a 30-bed hospital. However, in October last year, a few days after the department started providing services at the place, leaders of the Municipal Corporation (MC) raised objections over the use of the building by the Health Department and got it vacated.

Since then, the building is lying unused and residents of the area are unable to get medical services in their vicinity which they had expected with the opening of the health facility. The proposed centre ought to have facilities of specialists, such as gynaecologist, paediatrician, full-fledged diagnostic lab, a special dental wing, etc.

Presently, the MC has allowed the Health Department to use a room in the building from where they are running general OPD services. However, with a view to start the full-fledged facility, officials have requested the MLA OP Soni to intervene.

Punjab State Pharmacists’ Association convener Shamsher Singh Kohri said, “The facility will be a boon for the residents and it should be allowed to operate. The MC as well as the Health Department are working for the same government, so there should be no such problem.”

Deputy Medical Commissioner and Acting Civil Surgeon Dr Prabhdeep Kaur said, “Our objective is to start the facility for which the purchase order for machines has already been sanctioned. We have also got new doctors under the National Health Mission. As soon as we get a nod from the MC, we will start the facility.”