AMRITSAR: Addressing the district level function organized in Amritsar on the occasion of the 79th anniversary of the country's independence, Dr. Balbir Singh , Health On Family Welfare , Medical Education Punjab Paying tributes to the martyrs, he said that today we are breathing in freedom only because of the struggles launched by Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev , Sardar Kartar Singh Sarabha , Shaheed Udham Singh , Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna , Madan Lal Dhingra , Lala Lajpat Rai , Diwan Singh Kalepani and other freedom fighters from time to time .
He said that so far more than 55 thousand government jobs have been given. Labor laws have been simplified and a major campaign has been launched against beggars. A special ' Road Safety Force ' of its kind across the country has brought a huge reduction in road accidents. 15406 persons have been provided first aid on the spot and 19162 injured persons have been taken to hospitals for medical care.
The Cabinet Minister said that this year the 350th martyrdom anniversary of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji is being celebrated on a grand scale by the Punjab Government. State -level events are being organized from November 19 to November 25 and under the initiative of the Forest Department, 3.50 lakh saplings will be planted in each district under ' Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji Haryaval Sankalp ' .
He said that before assuming power, our government had promised to provide free electricity to the people of Punjab and after July 1, 2022 , 600 units of free electricity are being provided to each category. The electricity bill of 90 percent of consumers is coming to zero and farmers are also being provided free and full electricity continuously.
The Cabinet Minister said that to further raise the standard of education, 118 government senior secondary schools are being converted into ' Schools of Eminence ' and our government has named 115 government schools after freedom fighters , martyrs and internationally renowned personalities .
He said that 814 new trades have been started as per the demand of the industry to make the youth of the state employable according to the changing times . Apart from this, the Punjab government is running 881 Aam Aadmi Clinics in the state to provide first-class health services to the people , in which 107 types of medicines and 47 types of lab tests are done absolutely free. In the near future, the government is opening 200 more Aam Aadmi Clinics. He said that so far 3.69 crore patients have received free treatment worth about Rs. 1650 crore in Aam Aadmi Clinics.
The Health Minister said that our government will provide cashless treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh to every family by making health cards to all Punjabis under the Chief Minister's Health Scheme. This scheme will be implemented from October 2 , 2025. He said that the anti-dengue campaign ' Har Shukrawar , Dengue Te Vaar' launched by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is running successfully and this has led to a major reduction in the mortality rate.
The Health Minister said that Punjab now has 1, 700 MBBS seats , out of which 850 are in government institutions. Six new medical colleges are being set up in different districts including Sangrur , Kapurthala , Hoshiarpur , Moga , SBS Nagar and Malerkotla.
He said that under the Punjab government's " War on Drugs " campaign , free treatment of drug addicts is being provided in 55 de-addiction centers and 548 de-addiction medicine centers in the state. " War on Drugs " is a very successful campaign of our government. Along with this , Punjab has become the first state in the country to launch Anti - Drone System ( ADS ) under an exemplary initiative to stop drug smuggling from across the border .