'Will learn from Delhi's mohalla clinic model'

New Delhi: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday said his state will learn from Delhi's model of mohalla clinics that has won the national Capital praise from across the globe.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal showed a mohalla clinic and government schools to Mann, who is on a two-day visit to the national Capital to learn about the best practices of the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) model of governance.

"The Mohalla Clinic in Delhi has been praised by the whole world, for the betterment of Punjab we too will learn from this model. LIVE from a Mohalla Clinic in Delhi with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal," the Punjab Chief Minister tweeted in Punjabi.

"We are committed to providing similar world-class healthcare facilities to the people of Punjab," Mann said. His Delhi counterpart Kejriwal said his government will provide all possible efforts to help the Punjab government to ensure state-of-the-art healthcare facilities for the people there.

The Punjab CM met with people at the Mohalla Clinic who said that they cannot afford private healthcare at big hospitals and that they opt for these clinics as they are closer to home and it's where they receive homely care.

"I have come to know that 95-96% of people do not even need to go to any other health or treatment facilities as all their needs are met by the mohalla clinics of their respective localities. In case of severe illness or injuries, the clinic refers the patients to hospitals," Mann said.

At the mohalla clinic, Mann interacted with the patients, who told him that it takes them just 10 minutes to meet the doctor and get medicines.

Delhi Health minister Satyendar Jain said all major tests are conducted at mohalla clinics free of cost and the reports are uploaded online the next day.

A total of 5,48,94,925 OPDs have been attended and over 140 medicines and 230 tests have been conducted free at the mohalla clinics.

Besides the mohalla clinic, Mann along with Kejriwal and Sisodia also visited schools in the Capital run by the Delhi government.

"I thought such schools could only exist in US-Canada but they've done it here despite all challenges. We will take major strides towards the progress and betterment of Punjab following the Kejriwal government's footsteps. The country will only progress when we learn from one another," the Punjab CM said.

Both the chief ministers and their officials visited the Dr B R Ambedkar School of Excellence in the Kalkaji area where Sisodia talked about the innovative approach behind the Ambedkar Schools. "Some children have special talents. Say, a child wants to become an artist. If all the subjects are taught to that child, then he can also fail in some. Therefore, we have made a separate performing and visual art school for such children to enhance their talent. Likewise, we have STEM schools too. These children study through laptops and do not use notebooks," he said.

He further added that his government will borrow suggestions from the Delhi government to reform the government schools in Punjab and train teachers and principals accordingly. After witnessing the paperless digital classrooms, Mann said not even private schools can offer such quality. These schools have grand swimming pools, large multipurpose halls and state-of-the-art laboratories. Students enrolled in 'Happiness' classes get the opportunity to envision tremendous personal growth as well as progress and development for the nation, he said. "In the coming future, countless successful CEOs, engineers, doctors, scientists will be developed in these very schools," he said. The Punjab delegation took an interest in Class 10, 'connected classroom', Class 12 'smart classroom' and a JEE preparation facilitated by Vidyamandir Classes. Mann also met the Business Blaster teams and saw working models prepared by students in the Innovation Lab.