Punjab to rename Aam Aadmi Clinics amid funding dispute with Centre

The Punjab government will rename hundreds of Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs) across the state and remove Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s photo from the clinic facades to address a funding dispute with the Union government. These changes are part of a compromise over branding and funding of the clinics under the National Health Mission (NHM).
Punjab’s 870 clinics, branded as Aam Aadmi Clinics under the AAP-led government, received pushback from the Centre for branding NHM-funded health and wellness centres as AACs. The Union government halted NHM funding to Punjab in February 2023, citing concerns that the AAP was misusing funds by rebranding the Ayushman Bharat scheme as AACs.
Following discussions with the Centre, Punjab has agreed to rebrand clinics funded through the 60:40 NHM funding split by adding the Ayushman Bharat branding and removing CM Mann’s image.
Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh confirmed that while existing state-run health facilities will remain branded as AACs, co-branding with Ayushman Bharat will apply to clinics using NHM funding.
“This change of name won’t apply to buildings that are solely state-funded,” Singh said, explaining that only clinics co-funded with NHM will adopt the rebranding.
The issue began when the Punjab government renamed Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres as Aam Aadmi Clinics without the agreed colour schemes or federal logos. This decision violated a previous agreement with the Union Health Ministry, leading to the funding freeze.
The rebranding process has begun, with about 400 of the 870 clinics already undergoing the change.
Opposition party Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) criticised the AAP’s approach, with senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia accusing CM Mann of prioritising publicity over health services. Majithia argued that delays in rebranding and compliance with NHM guidelines denied health services to Punjabis and blocked the release of over Rs 765 crore in funds for more than a year.
In a statement, Bikram Majithia said the chief minister resisted the Centre’s demand to remove his picture from the centrally funded health and family clinics for one and half years.
“This not only made the clinics redundant for one year but also resulted in wasteful allocation of staff for the clinics. This also resulted in a severe degeneration of health services in the rural sector because staff were taken away from rural dispensaries and posted in the Clinics which were given the name of Aam Aadmi Clinics,” Majithia said.