Punjab will become home to its first AYUSH hospital, which will open its doors in the state’s Mohali district.
AYUSH refers an umbrella of alternative and traditional systems of medicine including Ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, unani, siddha, and homoeopathy. The inauguration of the AYUSH hospital took place in Zirakpur on November 14th, the foundational stone being laid by Punjab health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu and First Lady of Punjab Preneet Kaur, who formerly represented Patiala in both the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assembly.
“This is a valuable gift for the people of the state on the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev,” said Sindhu. “Once the hospital is ready, people will not have to go to the southern states for naturopathy treatment of their diseases.”
Construction of the fifty-bed, Rs 7 crore facility, Singh Sidhu announced, will be completed within a year. The facility will span nine acres in the area, reportedly donated by the local Sodhi family. In addition, a fifty-bed subdivisional hospital will be erected in the locality, marking an upgrade of Mohali’s community health centre.
The establishment of two fifty-bed AYUSH hospitals was announced by the Punjab state government in 2017. “The construction of AYUSH hospitals would soon be initiated by state government with the cost of Rs 12.5 crore,” said then-state health minister Brahm Mohindra. “Currently 463 rural and 47 urban government Ayurveda dispensaries, seventeen Swasth Kendras, five Ayurveda hospitals, one Panchkarma centre, one yoga and naturopathy Unit at Mohali and a drug-testing laboratory under [a] central scheme at Patiala are already functioning in the State,” Mohindra said at the time.
The AYUSH hospitals will provide integrated care across the spectrum of Indian medicine. Expanding access to such treatment has been a priority of the Government of India, with Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yasso Naik calling for AYUSH services to “reach the doorstep of every home.”
“[Punjab Chief Minister] Captain Amarinder Singh is giving high priority to the health sector in the state,” said Sindhu. “The process of complete transformation of government health institutions is underway so that people can have free and easy access to quality and standardised medical services.”
