AAP expresses concern over 'deteriorating' health facilities in Pb

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Harpal Singh Cheema on Sunday expressed concern over the "deteriorating" public health facilities in the state.

In a statement here, the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly alleged that subsequent governments were solely responsible for their anti-people policies and allocating shoe-string annual budgets to augment health services.

He said there was an urgent need for free medical treatment on the lines of the mohalla clinic model of the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi as people of the state were struggling with inflation and economic slowdown.

The AAP MLA said the written allegations of government doctors absenting themselves from duty by paying a hefty amount-- levelled by social activist and former Punjab government official Pyare Lal Garg-- were of serious nature, which have earned disgrace for the government.

Cheema demanded that a special committee of Punjab Vidhan Sabha comprising MLAs and representatives of all parties and investigating agencies experts be constituted to investigate the allegations within a timeframe to unearth the role of the health mafia.

In an article, Garg had alleged that a large number of doctors in government dispensaries in the rural areas, especially those under the Panchayat Department, were allowed to absent themselves from duty by paying hefty amounts, which had badly hit the services in the rural dispensaries where doctors were not seen around for days, Cheema said.

The allegations levelled by Garg, a former registrar of Baba Farid University, who handled top responsibilities in the state health sector from time to time, needed to be investigated seriously and within a timeframe, he added.

The AAP leader further stressed on enhancing annual budget allocation for health and medical education for the financial year 2020-21.

Cheema said that only 3.48 per cent of the total budget for health and medical education in the state was earmarked during the financial year 2019-2020, which did not even make for 1 per cent of the state's GDP, as a result of which the health services were badly hit, leading to staff crunch and shortage of medicines at government hospitals and dispensaries.

Cheema said the AAP government in Delhi was spending more than 12 per cent of its total budget on public health services, which has resulted in people getting access to free medicines and medical tests at government hospitals and dispensaries.