Chandigarh (The Stellar News): On Friday, Punjab Health Minister, Chetan Singh Jouramajra, visited the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital in Faridkot to investigate the complaints regarding the lack of cleanliness in hospital wards. Taking note of the poor condition of hospital mattresses, the minister ordered Dr. Raj Bahadur, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) Vice-Chancellor, to lie down on the dirty mattress.
In a video shared by news agency ANI (Asia News International), Jouramajra can be heard asking Bahadur ‘It’s all in your hands but what is this’. One of the minister’s accomplice was seen lifting up the mattress and pointing to its poor condition. Dr. Raj Bahadur, 71, is an acclaimed spinal surgeon in India, and Project Director and Member Secretary of the Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, Mohali. He is also a member of the Nationl Medical Commission, the country’s apex medical regulatory body. Due to humiliation from the incident Dr. Raj Bahadur resigned from his position as Vice-chancellor of Baba Farid University on Saturday. After this opposition parties in Punjab came down heavily on the AAP for insulting the senior medical professional.
Punjab Congress President Amrinder Singh Raja Waring reminded the AAP government that since they were no longer in the Opposition, it was their duty to provide quality infrastructure to hospitals. “The doctor and the vice chancellor who was misbehaved with by the Health Minister yesterday…when AAP’s Delhi model failed during COVID, it was the hard work of these doctors that saved Punjab. Wise people say, take your dignity in your hands, perhaps it is time that the dirty and non-functioning medical equipments in the hospitals should be thrown by the doctors in front of the Punjab Health departments and the government should be asked to provide better equipment and infrastructure”, said Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.
Former Punjab Education and Sports Minister, Pargat Singh, also slammed the government demanding the immediate dismissal of the Health Minister.
BJPs Manjinder Singh Sirsa hit out at the ’embarrassing, cheap, uneducated, arrogant behavior’ of the Punjab Health Minister and demanded that Jouramajra apologise publicly for his reckless behavior. “A learned man won’t tolerate disrespect! @AapPunjab MLAs are instructed by Arvind Kejriwal to do cheap publicity stunts and humiliate officials or academicians. Unfortunate such a committed medical professional Dr. Raj Bahadur resigned from the position of VC of Baba Farid University”, he said.
Report: Deepanjot Kaur (Under Training)
