DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Reaffirming the commitment to ensure world-class healthcare facilities in the state, Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann is all set to dedicate Punjab's first Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, SAS Nagar to its people on Thursday. The Government made the announcement in this regard in the Budget session of 2022.

The Institute, established at Phase 3B-1 in SAS Nagar, has been equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure to provide super-speciality care, training and research in the field of Hepatology. The Institute has been established with the cost of over Rs 40 crores and will have a staff of around 450 people including 80 doctors, 150 staff nurses and 200 group-D employees. Professor Virendra Singh, who is a Former Prof & Head, Department of Hepatology PGIMER, Chandigarh, has been appointed as the Director of the Institute.

Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh, while thanking CM Bhagwant Singh Mann for his wholehearted support to accomplish this prestigious Institute, said that Punjab would be the second state in the country after New Delhi to have an Institute exclusively for the patients of liver and biliary diseases. Notably, the Institute has been established at par with The Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences (ILBS), New Delhi.

Pertinently, the Institute has been running OPD services for the last 8 months and from Thursday onwards, the Institute will commence Indoor, Intensive care and Emergency services. Patients with various types of liver diseases including acute and chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver cancer, alcoholic liver disease, ascites, various pancreatic diseases and disorders of the gallbladder and biliary diseases can avail the treatment from this institute.

Dr Balbir Singh said that this will be the first government hospital in the state to provide services like UGI Endoscopy, Fibroscan, Endoscopic Ultrasound and ERCP. The Institute will also start Telemedicine services for the outreach to all Government Hospitals of Punjab, he added. He said that liver transplant facility is also expected to be started soon at this institute.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Chief Minister would also virtually inaugurate the newly established state and zonal offices of the Food and Drug Administration, Punjab on this occasion. The offices include the State Headquarter of the Food and Drug Administration, Punjab? which has been renamed as Commissionerate, Food and Drugs Administration? has been established at Phase 9 with a cost of Rs 2.63 crores, while, four Zonal Offices including Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Bathinda and Ferozepur have been established with the cost of Rs 278.01 lakh.
(editor@dailyworld.in)