Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann to Inaugurate 76 ‘Aam Aadmi Clinics’ in Sangrur on Aug 14 – News18

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is set to inaugurate 76 ‘Aam Aadmi Clinics’ in Sangrur district on Monday, adding to the 583 exiting ones.

Out of the existing clinics, 403 are located in villages while 180 in urban areas, Health Minister Balbir Singh said.

Till now, over 44 lakh people have availed the free services of these clinics and over 20 lakh medical tests have been conducted in them, Singh added.

The AAP-led state government rolled out these clinics last year.

AAP Clinics: a point of contention b/w state and Centre

At the same time, the clinics have triggered a row with the Union Health Ministry claiming that the funds meant for various health schemes have been diverted to these clinics for AAP’s “promotion.”

This comes as the Centre had earlier stopped the release of Rs 546 crore to Punjab under the National Health Mission citing this.

Upset over turning Health Wellness Centres (HWC) under the mission programme into the Aam Aadmi Clinics in February, the Centre had threatened Punjab that central funding for the National Health Mission (NHM) would be stopped.

Following this, Singh wrote a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and said that they were ready to make changes in the branding of the Aam Aadmi Clinics and requested the latter to release the funds.

The letter added that the process of branding of all PHCs-HWCs on the pattern would be taken up in the due course of time and, therefore, at least three months be permitted to the state to undertake the exercise.

Some of the objections of the Centre included changing the name of the Ayushman Bharat — Health and Wellness Centres (AB — HWC) to the Aam Aadmi Clinics; change in colour of the outer surface of the buildings and the CM’s photo in logo.

Apart from accusing the state for violating the provisions of the MoU signed for the (AB-HWC), the Centre blamed Punjab for “vitiating the spirit of the scheme and defaulting on its commitment”.