CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Secretary Anurag Verma on Friday conducted a surprise inspection of Civil Hospital in Mohali.
After the inspection, while talking to media persons, he said that the purpose of this inspection was to check and ensure that the announcement by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann regarding providing free medicines to the patients at government hospitals was being properly implemented.
Verma said that in consultation with the doctors, an Essential Drug List (EDL) comprising 276 drugs has been prepared by the Health Department. Out of these, rate contracts have been done for 90 per cent of the drugs. For the remaining drugs, the senior medical officers will purchase the medicines from the market and provide them to the patients. For this purpose, Rs 25 crore has been approved by the chief minister. He further said that yesterday on his directions all the deputy commissioners in the state had conducted an inspection of their district hospitals to ensure implementation of the decision.