Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh on Monday said that the Punjab Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (PILBS), which has been running OPD services for last eight months at 3B1, SAS Nagar (Mohali), is expected to get fully-functional soon as all the latest ultra-modern equipment are being installed and the recruitment process of super-specialist doctors and other para-medical staff has also been completed.

Dr Balbir, ahead of PILBS inauguration ceremony, launched the Institute’s website — www.pilbs.punjab.gov.in — for the public’s convenience in the presence of its Director Prof Virendra Singh, who is former professor and Head of Department of Hepatology, PGIMER, Chandigarh.

“Once the Institute gets fully functional, people will be able to avail first-class medical care for patients with liver and biliary diseases here,” said Dr Balbir, adding that patients with various types of liver diseases including acute and chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver cancer, alcoholic liver disease, ascites, various pancreatic diseases and disorders of the gallbladder and biliary diseases can avail the treatment.

“People will also be able to avail the liver transplant procedure at this Institute, which is being established at par to The Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), New Delhi,” said Dr Balbir, adding that this would be the second government super-speciality institute to offer first-class medical care for patients with liver and biliary diseases in the country.

Meanwhile, the website will help in sensitizing patients about basic overview of the diseases, preventive measures and health education, besides providing insights about the laboratory tests, online reporting, procedures and liver transplantation.

The details of faculty, OPD days, and specialities at the hospital will be available on the website for the general public’s convenience. The website will have details of tele-medicine for the outreach to all the government hospitals of the Punjab.