DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Amid a surge in coronavirus cases, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday ordered immediate recruitment of 400 nurses and 140 technicians at state government medical colleges. He also directed the Medical Education and Research Department to expedite the college projects approved or in progress in the state so that Punjab is not left behind in the development of health infrastructure, an official statement said. The chief minister said he will also write to the Centre for a direction to satellite centres of the Chandigarh's PGIMER and military hospitals in Punjab to provide additional COVID beds. Pre-fabricated structures can be used for this purpose, he stressed. Amarinder Singh also reviewed the functioning of the Department of Medical Education and Research. Medical Education Minister O P Soni shared details of various hospitals and medical colleges that are coming up in Mohali, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala. Efforts are also being made to establish medical colleges at Malerkotla and Gurdaspur with the approval of the Union government, he said, adding that the satellite centres of PGIMER will also be commissioned at Sangrur this year. The construction of a satellite centre of the PGIMER at Ferozepur has started, he said. Further, approval has recently been received from the ICMR, New Delhi, for setting up a national institute of virology at Mohali, he said. Currently, the state has two universities under the department--Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, and Guru Ravidas Ayurveda University, Hoshiarpur. In addition to it, there are three government medical colleges, two dental colleges, one ayurvedic college and 12 nursing Schools/colleges under the department. Soni said more than 14,000 COVID patients have been treated in government medical colleges. Post-COVID multispecialty OPD has been introduced for patients and arrangements have made to look after pregnant women during the pandemic, he added. The oxygen audit has been started in the three government medical colleges for proper use of oxygen and efforts have been made to ensure its supply, disclosed the Minister. A new transparent examination system had been introduced by Baba Farid University, which had also been appreciated by the National Board of Examinations of the Government of India, the meeting was informed. Making a presentation, Secretary, Medical Education, said the ongoing projects at GMC Amritsar will be completed this year at a cost of Rs 206.86 crore and new projects worth Rs 134.64 crore will be started. Similarly, at Patiala the ongoing projects will be completed at a cost of Rs 97.73 crore. (editor@dailyworld.in)