Chandigarh Sep 20 (IANS): To encourage hygenic conditions and cleanliness in government hospitals, the Punjab goverment will give a Rs.50 lakh award to the most hygienic hospital in the state, a senior officer said on Sunday.

"The Punjab government has constituted a state-level evaluation committee to assess the general conditions of each government hospital in the state and on the basis of its recommendations the hygienically best hospital would be awarded with a cash award of Rs.50 lakh," said Principal Secretary Health Vini Mahajan.

"Instructions have been given to the civil surgeons across the state to ensure cleanliness and basic hygiene in the hospitals under their control. The Best Hospital Award would be given on the basis of the overall cleanliness in the hospitals, sanitation and hygiene, disposal of hospital waste, infection control, availability of support services and hygiene promotion," she said.

The hospitals will be given a 250-parameters questionnaire before these are shortlisted for evaluation by the state level committee.

Mahajan said that 75 percent of the award money would go towards welfare of patients while the remaining 25 percent would be disbursed among the staff members who have worked hard to make this cleanliness drive a success.

She also said that all the formalities to evaluate the hospitals would be completed by the first week of October.