Chandigarh, Sept. 15 — With floodwaters receding across Punjab, the Bhagwant Mann government has launched a large-scale health campaign aimed at reaching every household in affected areas with doctors, medicines and disease-prevention measures. The initiative, which began on Sept. 14, is being described by officials as the first mission of its kind to cover 2,303 villages simultaneously.
The drive seeks to provide medical relief directly at people’s doorsteps instead of requiring families to travel to hospitals. “For the first time, people are seeing a government that is standing in the field rather than just issuing orders,” a senior official said.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is personally overseeing the campaign, with cabinet ministers, MLAs, party in-charges and volunteers deployed across districts. Leaders are monitoring village-level health camps, many of which have been set up in schools, panchayat buildings and anganwadis where no hospitals exist. From morning until evening, doctors, pharmacists, nurses and medical students are conducting checkups, supported by ASHA workers going door-to-door.
The government has pledged that every family will be reached at least once by Sept. 20, with no break in operations even on Sundays. ASHA workers have been tasked with checking each household, arranging doctor visits when needed, and distributing medicines. “If a child has fever, an elder feels weak or a woman is unwell, treatment does not have to wait,” an official noted.
Each camp is stocked with essential medicines, ORS packets, Dettol, fever tablets, malaria-dengue testing kits and first-aid supplies. More than 550 ambulances have been deployed, backed by a stock of 85 essential medicines and 23 utility items. Doctors, nursing staff and pharmacists from larger hospitals are serving in the campaign.
Parallel to the health push, a 21-day mosquito-control drive has been launched. Fogging is being carried out continuously in villages, while inspection teams check water sources house-to-house and spray chemicals wherever dengue or malaria risks are suspected. Block medical officers are required to upload daily progress reports online.
The government has directed all departments to ensure uninterrupted services, regardless of manpower or resource shortages. “This mission cannot stop for any reason,” health officials said.
Residents in several districts have welcomed the outreach, saying it has restored their faith in the state’s relief system. “Earlier we had to rush to hospitals, now doctors are coming to our doorstep,” one villager said.
The Aam Aadmi Party government has framed the effort as an example of public service. “Relief is not a burden but an opportunity to serve,” Chief Minister Mann said, according to officials. With sanitation, health care and relief reaching every lane and every household, many villagers have begun describing the initiative as a government working shoulder to shoulder with the people.
