Chandigarh: Punjab health minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra on Saturday came under heavy fire a day after he was seen in a video forcing the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) vice-chancellor, Dr Raj Bahadur, to lie on a dirty mattress at a hospital during an inspection there.
Dr Raj Bahadur, who said he felt humiliated, sent his resignation within hours of the incident to chief minister Bhagwant Mann requesting him to relieve him from services. Mann is said to have apologised to the acclaimed surgeon for the humiliation at the hands of the minister and asked him to reconsider his decision to resign.
The incident happened on Friday when Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister Jouramajra was on an inspection to Faridkot’s Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, which comes under the BFUHS. The video clip of the incident being circulated on social media showed Jouramajra placing a hand on the top doctor’s shoulder, pointing towards a dirty mattress in the hospital and then forcing him to lie down on it. Dr Bahadur tried to explain to the minister that he was not responsible for the facilities to which the minister told him everything was in his (VC’s) hands.
Notably, Dr Bahadur, 71, an eminent specialist in spinal surgery and joint replacement in the country, is a former director-principal of Government Medical College and Hospital in Chandigarh and also the head, orthopaedic department, Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. At BFUHS too, he was on his third extension as its VC.
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Meanwhile, Indian Medical Association (IMA) as well as various other medical associations have condemned the minister's behaviour.
Seeking the minister’s resignation, the IMA said that the entire medical fraternity across India felt insulted. The IMA in its statement said that the incident was totally uncalled for and Dr Bahadur, a learned academician and well-respected doctor has been instrumental in lifting the varsity to a very high level.
The Punjab civil medical services association, a doctors’ body in Punjab, also condemned what it termed as unceremonious treatment meted out to Dr Bahadur. Various other fora said that the ills in the health centres were because of poor funding by the government and not because of the institution’s head.
Meanwhile, the opposition leaders across parties, Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP flayed the incident that has left the AAP government red-faced.
