Chandigarh: As the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann completes four years in office, the state’s healthcare sector has expanded significantly—from strengthening primary care to introducing advanced tertiary services.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh on Saturday said 100 new Aam Aadmi Clinics will be inaugurated on March 17, taking the total number of clinics in the state to 993, with another 450 in the pipeline.

According to the minister, the existing 883 clinics have already served more than 1.6 crore residents and recorded over 5 crore patient visits. The clinics provide 107 essential medicines and 47 diagnostic tests free of cost, while over 30,000 pregnant women receive ante-natal care every month.

Highlighting healthcare coverage, Singh said the Mukh Mantri Sehat Bima Yojna offers universal health insurance of ₹10 lakh per family per year, making Punjab the only state in India providing such comprehensive coverage. The scheme covers more than 2,300 surgical and treatment packages through a network of over 600 empanelled private hospitals.

In a major development in tertiary care, the minister noted that the Punjab Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences successfully conducted the state’s first liver transplant in the public healthcare sector in November 2025.

The government is also investing over ₹400 crore in modern medical equipment, including MRI facilities in all district hospitals and expanded CT scan services. New PET scan facilities will be introduced in Amritsar, Faridkot, Mohali, and Patiala.

Singh said the state has also undertaken a major recruitment drive, appointing 948 general doctors and 627 specialists since 2022, alongside additional paramedical staff including nurses and pharmacists.

To strengthen medical education, seven new medical colleges are being set up in Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Sangrur, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Lehragaga, Malerkotla, and Ludhiana, which will add 600 MBBS seats. Existing institutions in Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot are also being upgraded to super-specialty centres.

The minister said emergency care initiatives such as the Farishtey Scheme have already saved over 600 lives by offering immediate cashless treatment to accident victims.

He added that the state is also focusing on preventive health through programmes like CM Di Yogshala, under which around 5,000 supervised yoga sessions are conducted daily, benefiting nearly 1.5 lakh citizens.

In its anti-drug campaign Yudh Nashean Virudh, the government has set up 548 OOAT clinics treating over 10.63 lakh patients through de-addiction and rehabilitation centres across the state.