Patiala, Jan. 7 -- The Punjab health department on Tuesday issued new guidelines regarding the deployment of specialist doctors during VIP and VVIP visits.

As per the guidelines, accessed by HT, the specialist doctors will be deployed only for the visits of the Punjab governor, chief minister and the deputy chief minister.

The department has also curtailed the number of specialists assigned for such duties, reducing the strength from the existing five to just two.

Until now, the Punjab government had not formally defined a list of VIPs eligible for specialist medical cover. As a result, specialists were often deputed for the visits of ministers, chief ministers of other states, and even for programmes involving ruling party functionari...