Mohali, Apr 21: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal yesterday said the state government will spend Rs 3,443 crore to upgrade health infrastructure.
It will include renovation of dilapidated buildings of government hospitals and dispensaries and installing latest medical equipments, Badal said.
He inaugurated one day cancer awareness-cum medical checkup camp here, said an official release here yesterday.
The chief minister said that the second largest cancer hospital would soon start functioning at Mullanpur near Chandigarh on which Rs 450 crore would be spent to provide the latest treatment and diagnostic services to the patients.
The state government has already given 50 acres land to the Tata Cancer Research Centre, Mumbai, he said.
The state government will spend Rs 500 crore every year for organising medical camps to eradicate cancer from the state, Badal said.
The chief minister said five innovative centres to provide state of the art treatment and diagnostic facilities to the cancer patients were being set up in government medical colleges in Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot, Sangrur and Bathinda.
Badal said that the state government will now make direct payment to the cancer patients out of the chief minister's cancer relief fund instead of giving it to the concerned hospitals.
