16 wellness centres opened in Jalandhar

Jalandhar, November 21

To augment primary healthcare services and infrastructure amid the Covid-19 outbreak, Jalandhar (West) MLA Sushil Kumar Rinku and Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori on Saturday dedicated 16 health and wellness centres (Tandarust Punjab Sehat Kendras) in Jalandhar.

The district now has 208 health and wellness centres with upgraded 172 sub-health centres, eight urban and 28 rural primary health centres. Participating in the state-level virtual inauguration ceremony of 107 health and wellness centres by CM Capt Amarinder Singh, Rinku and Thori said these centres would be operated by the Community Health Officers and will offer treatment for non-communicable diseases, including cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, among others.

They said to run these centres, nursing officers (staff nurses) have been trained by the Health Department under a specially-designed bridge programme adding they have undergone six-month training from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). They revealed theoretical and practical training had been imparted to the Community Health Officers. They said these centres would prove instrumental in fighting the pandemic effectively by ensuring early reporting of the suspected cases at the first stage. They said spread of contagion can be curbed with early testing of suspected cases having influenza-like symptoms and would help to break the transmission chain of the virus at the earliest.

Staff nurse Kamaljeet Kaur, who had been performing the Covid duty since March 2020, spoke to Capt Amarinder Singh.