CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s insistence to change the nomenclature of the Ayushman Bharat wellness centres to Aam Aadmi Clinics and plastering his picture on them was costing the health sector dearly with the central government denying it Rs 800 crore under this scheme.
In a statement here, senior leader Iqbal Singh Jhundan said the situation was such that community health centres (CHCs), primary health centres (PHCs) and sub divisional hospitals in the chief minister’s Sangrur district were in dire straits. “It is shocking that most centres and hospitals have stopped night services due to shortage of staff with only 41 out of 117 posts of Medical Officers being filled in the district”.
Mr Jhundan said the situation was the same elsewhere in the State also with lack of funds resulting in health care centres denying even basic facilities to patients. “The Aam Aadmi Clinics which were opened with much fanfare by the chief minister have also resulted in the near total collapse of the healthcare system in rural areas. Even many hospitals which used to treat emergency patients during night time are denying treatment to patients because staff from the same has been shifted to the Aam Aadmi Clinics' '.
Asserting that the root cause for this state of affairs was the rebranding of rural dispensaries into Aam Aadmi Clinics, Mr Jhundan said “first crores were spent to rebrand the health facilities which included pasting the chief minister’s pictures on them. This was followed by a multi-crore advertising campaign to deceive Punjabis as well as people at large across the country that a major milestone had been achieved when none was”.
Mr Jhundan said the after effects of this self glorification drive had resulted in denial of Rs 800 crore to the State under the National Health Mission. “The State has lost an additional Rs 2, 800 crore due to mis-utilisation of central schemes. It is also in no position to borrow additional funds as the central government has imposed fiscal discipline on it and reduced its borrowing limit”.
Asking the chief minister to shed his ego and utilize central grants for the purpose for which they were given, Mr Jhundan said “you had talked about making the health and education sector your priority areas. Both sectors are in doldrums under your watch and the situation is likely to take a turn for the worse if corrective steps are not taken immediately”. Mr Jhundan said there was a severe shortage of medicines as well as diagnostic equipment in government institutions and patients were being deprived of specialist care due to lack of senior doctors. “The government should focus on this instead of spending crores to highlight fake achievements”, he added