Government Data Exposes Punjab’s ‘

Hoshiarpur/Daljeet Ajnoha/April 10 : Senior BJP leader and former Cabinet Minister Tikshan Sood stated in a press note that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came to power in Punjab promising a “health revolution” by replicating Delhi’s Mohalla Clinic model. Even then, Delhi residents weren’t particularly thrilled with AAP’s model. Now, the AAP government’s performance in Punjab has fully exposed the hollowness of this “health revolution.”
In its very first year, the government filled the entire state with promises of 16 new medical colleges on the horizon. Yet, after four years, not a single medical college is anywhere in sight. Mohalla Clinics, built after shutting down existing health centers, offer no real facilities. No new staff has been hired for them, leading to the closure of the old health centers.
Sood emphasized that no matter how many claims the government makes, the data reveals the truth. According to official figures, patient admissions in Punjab’s government hospitals have seen barely any increase. In contrast, under the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Jan Arogya Yojana, Bihar recorded a five-fold rise in three years, Haryana a four-fold increase, Uttar Pradesh a three-fold jump, and Maharashtra a six-fold surge in patients treated at government hospitals.
Punjab has turned out to be the biggest laggard in this regard, with patient numbers rising only about twofold—despite its population being much smaller than states like Uttar Pradesh. “Faced with these figures, how will AAP leaders now convince people about their ‘health revolution’?” Sood questioned.