Punjab Govt begins process to open Aam Aadmi Clinics in Jails amid apprehensions of misuse by inmates
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ January 3,2026
The Punjab government has initiated the process of opening Aam Aadmi Clinics (AAC) in central jails to provide inmates with comprehensive, quality healthcare, including crucial mental health support, by inviting bids.
As per initial plan, Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs)will be opened in 10 Central jails namely –Patiala, Amritsar, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, Goindwal Sahib, Faridkot, Ludhiana, Kapurthala and Gurdaspur to provide regular healthcare, including crucial mental health support, to inmates.
Jails in Punjab-central, district already have hospitals with 24/7 medical facility. The hospitals have inpatient, outpatient facilities . But the newly planned Aam Aadmi Clinics in 10 Central jails will have Outpatient facilities only.
Aam Aadmi Clinic has a staff of four members- a doctor, pharmacist, clinical assistant and a class four employee. A doctor gets Rs 50 per patient/ slip, a pharmacist and a clinical assistant gets Rs 11 each and the class four employees gets a lump sum monthly amount.
A Punjab prison department officer on the condition of anonymity said, it’s a welcome step. Prison department is seeing this initiative from positive angle as this will “ensure humane conditions, better access to medicines, and specialized treatment for inmates, integrating prison healthcare with state health systems”.
As per available information, the state government will also depute psychologists and psychiatrists in Aam Aadmi Clinics in jails to provide essential psychosocial counselling to the inmates.
The PWD department has already started inviting bids for construction of Aam Aadmi Clinics in Central jails. The last for applying for the bidder, contractor is January 13,2026 by 5:00 pm. The bids will be opened on January 14,2026 at 11:00 am.
Punjab prison department / jail department have regular doctors and procure the medicines from Punjab Govt Drug stores and pays from its budget. For Aam Aadmi Clinics, the government has to appoint separate doctors, paramedic staff for healthcare, clinical tests, class four for every clinic on commission, per patient basis.
Apprehensions are there that when a jail has hospitals, 24/7 medical staff than what is the need arises to open AACs in jails. The doctors, staffs deputed in the hospital are regular and answerable to govt whereas the AAC staff- doctors, pharmacists, clinical, helper are on commission, contractual basis. As no other outsider is allowed to visit jails AAC, the number of OPD inmates may be less on daily, monthly basis. This might attract the AAC staff to do any kind of illegal acts, shortcuts to earn more. The AACs staff can also misuse the usage of medicines.
Multiple incidents have been reported across Punjab’s central jails where jail health staff and doctors were arrested for supplying drugs and illegal medicines to inmates. In December 2025, a medical officer and a TB technician at Ludhiana Central Jail were arrested for allegedly running a smuggling racket and receiving payments through UPI from inmates’ relatives. In August 2022, a doctor at Ferozepur Central Prison was arrested for supplying banned narcotics, with police later confirming the involvement of nine jail officials and one doctor. In October 2022, the jail medical officer at Amritsar Jail was caught during an undercover operation while allegedly delivering narcotics to inmates. Earlier, in 2017, a doctor linked to a de-addiction centre, along with a woman and a jail guard, was arrested at Kapurthala Modern Jail for supplying opioids to an inmate. These cases point to serious lapses in internal monitoring and raise concerns about wider networks operating within prison healthcare systems.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh could not be contacted as his phone was switched off.
