Chandigarh, Oct. 20 -- The state government's Aam Aadmi Clinics have crossed 4.20-crore OPD visits and conducted more than 2.29 crore lab tests in just three years since their launch on August 15, 2022. Punjab health and family welfare minister Dr Balbir Singh said the 881 operational clinics across the state - 316 in urban and 565 in rural areas - were providing free consultations, 107 free medicines and 47 diagnostic tests to the public. "Out of the total visits, 1.50 crore were unique patients, while 2.7 crore were repeat visits," the minister said, adding that the initiative had helped reduce out-of-pocket healthcare expenses by nearly Rs.2,000 crore for citizens. The clinics, Singh said, were currently serving an average of 73,000 patients per day, with each clinic attending to around 83 individuals daily. According to a recent survey, 98% of patients reported receiving the prescribed medicines from the clinics. The health minister said strict instructions had been issued to maintain adequate stocks of all 107 essential drugs at every clinic. He shared that 54% of OPD visits were by women, with the clinics having been widely accessed across all age groups: children & adolescents (0-15 years) totalling 13.9% of visits, followed by adults (16-60 years) with 61.3% and senior citizens (60+ years) with 24.8%.HTC...