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Punjab: Oppn takes on govt over state of health facilities
The two senior leaders of the opposition Congress took on health and family welfare minister Dr Balbir Singh during the Question Hour on the opening day of the winter session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha
Leader of Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa and Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Raja Warring on Tuesday targeted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government over the condition of health facilities in the state, questioning the criteria for setting up Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs) and their impact on the existing health centres.
The two senior leaders of the opposition Congress took on health and family welfare minister Dr Balbir Singh during the Question Hour on the opening day of the winter session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. Bajwa and Warring called attention to severe shortage of doctors, medical equipment and medicines in government hospitals across the state, citing the hospitals in their own assembly constituencies of Qadian and Gidderbaha as examples. The health minister gave them an assurance that doctors, medical equipment and medicines would be provided before the parliamentary elections next year.
Bajwa and Warring had asked the health minister about the expenditure incurred and new doctors recruited to run AACs, the number of health centres affected due to opening of these clinics and the details of AAP ministers, legislators and other dignitaries who got treatment at these clinics. The health minister, in his reply, said that ₹229.48 crore have been spent on 664 AACs made operational in the state till date and 664 new medical officers have been empanelled in these mohalla clinics. “No health centre has been affected by the opening of AACs,” he further said, adding that specific information about the medical treatment offered to individuals affiliated with a particular party was currently not available.
Bajwa asked him about the basis of setting up AACs and the number of such clinics established in his Qadian constituency. When Dr Singh put the number of clinics set up in Gurdaspur district at 35, the LoP said that with a total of 664 AACs, there should be five centres in each assembly segment on an average, but no clinic has been set up in his constituency.
“There is shortage of doctors and medical equipment in existing hospital. When will you provide these?” he asked, taking a dig at the health minister for passionately defending a “dead case”.
The minister replied that medical equipment such as x-ray machines, doctors and other facilities would be made available at all hospitals where there is shortage, before the model code of conduct is imposed for the Lok Sabha elections. “We have been given funds by the chief minister and plan to set up these clinics across the state,” he said, asking the members to submit their lists.
Warring said the Gidderbaha hospital had been ranked number one and got a prize from the central government, but it was now facing problems. “There are 13,500 villages in Punjab and only 1,217 days of the term of the present government are left. “If they set up one AAC a day, they will not be able to cover the entire state,” he said. The health minister challenged the opposition member to show when 664 health clinics were set up in such a short span.
Pension of 1.27 lakh
beneficiaries stopped: Minister
Social justice, empowerment and minorities, social security and women and child development minister Baljit Kaur said that the government had cancelled the pension of 1,27,356 beneficiaries during 2022-23 and 2023-24. “The department conducted a survey during the year 2022-23 and pension of 90,248 beneficiaries was stopped or cancelled. This year, 37,108 beneficiaries’ pension has been stopped,” the minister said in reply to a starred question.
Jalandhar North MLA Avtar Singh Junior had asked about the total number of pensioners and the number of persons whose pension was stopped or cancelled along with the criteria adopted for the same. The minister put the total number of pensioners in the state at 31.56 lakh in 2022-23 and 32.92 lakh (up to October) in 2023-24. The minister also said the department has not stopped or cancelled the pension of any farmer.
The Congress MLA suggested an increase in the income cap of ₹60,000 to availing the pension to ₹2.50 lakh. The minister responded by saying that they would consider it. The Jalandhar North MLA also asked the minister about the proposed hike in pension from ₹1,500 to ₹2,500 per month. The minister said the department had sent a proposal to the finance department regarding the same.
