Residents pin hope on govt for upgrade of Gujjarwal dispensary

Our Correspondent

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 12

Residents of 24 villages surrounding Gujjarwal village near here in Ludhiana district see a ray of hope in the new the AAP government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann as regional leaders have launched coordinated efforts to get status of the Civil Hospital for the existing dispensary having a single doctor here.

Philanthropists and NRIs from the village have been roped in for the upgrade and renovation of the dilapidated building housing the dispensary. Kuldeep Singh Grewal, an NRI from the village has come forward to fund works worth Rs10 lakh.

Ranjit Singh Grewal and Baljit Singh Grewal, president and vice-president of the Gujjarwal village unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), respectively, said senior party leaders led by halqa in-charge KNS Kang, had already started working for the upgradation of the dispensary to a government hospital.

“What has upset us is that successive governments could not keep a Civil Hospital running, which once used to provide healthcare services to residents of over 20 villages in the area. We are glad that our halqa in-charge KNS Kang has come forward to keep his promise to get the building of the dispensary renovated and upgrade it to a hospital,” said Ranjit Singh and Baljit Singh while regretting that hospital established in 1929 was later degraded to a dispensary in the seventies.

Residents of the region had got approval for the construction of a hospital in 1925. Presently, the pharmacy and the dispensary are providing services to patients coming from five villages. Quarters in the residential wing of the dispensary are in shambles.

AAP leaders claimed that formal work for the renovation of the premises, presently in shambles, would be inaugurated by Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Saturday.