Under the Chief Minister’s leadership, Punjab Cabinet approves empanelment of 300 specialist doctors across 12 key categories

Step taken to provide better healthcare services to the people

Chandigarh, Nov 2025 : To ensure quality healthcare services for people across Punjab, the Cabinet led by the Chief Minister has approved the empanelment of 300 specialist doctors across 12 major medical categories.

This decision was taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister today.
Providing details, a spokesperson from the Chief Minister’s Office said the Cabinet has approved the empanelment of specialist doctors in 12 important categories — Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Dermatology, Chest & TB, Surgery, Gynecology, Orthopedics, Ophthalmology, ENT, and Anesthesiology.

This move will increase the availability of specialist doctors and improve the quality of secondary-level healthcare services for the people of Punjab. The empanelment process will be carried out at the district level through Civil Surgeons. The empanelled doctors will be entitled to charge empanelment fees per patient for OPD, IPD, emergency services, major and minor surgeries, and other medical services.

Approval for a uniform disciplinary and appellate structure under Punjab Cooperative Societies Rules, 1963

The Cabinet has also approved Rule 28-A under the Punjab Cooperative Societies Rules, 1963, introducing a uniform disciplinary and appellate framework. This will help prevent duplication of appeal channels, avoid contradictory decisions within the same board or its committees, and ensure a clear chain of command in disciplinary actions.

The amendment ensures that appeals within the institution will be heard only once. It strengthens institutional accountability by defining authority at every level and ensures due process under a unified structure. Additionally, this will help protect employees’ rights. All apex institutions and central cooperative banks functioning under the cooperative sector in Punjab will benefit from this uniformity.

Approval for amendments to Punjab Minor Mineral Rules, 2013

To make mining services more efficient, citizen-friendly, and transparent, the Cabinet has approved amendments to the Punjab Minor Mineral Rules, 2013 in line with the Punjab State Minor Minerals (Amendment) Policy 2025.

These amendments were required to incorporate new rules related to the allocation of mining rights to mining lease holders of crusher mining sites and landowners’ mining sites in the state. The updated provisions aim to improve the transparency and management of minor mineral mining across Punjab.