Punjab health minister news: Raj Bahadur, Vice Chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) resigned on Friday after he was forced by Punjab Health Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra to lie down on a dirty mattress at a hospital. Jouramajra has been drawing flak from the opposition in Punjab, ever since the incident came to light.
The incident happened Friday when Jouramajra was on an inspection of Faridkot's Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, which comes under the BFUHS.
Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring shared a video clip of the incident that circulated on social media. The clip showed Jouramajra placing a hand on the veteran surgeon's shoulder as he pointed toward the "damaged and dirty condition" of the mattress inside the hospital's skin department.
"The sort of behaviour meted by the Health Minister to VC Baba Farid Medical University Dr Raj Bahadur is absolutely uncalled for. @BhagwantMann ji should take strict action against the arrogant Minister,” senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa said in a tweet.
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal called out the minister for "reprehensible behaviour." "Have spoken to Dr Bahadur & expressed solidarity with him besides assuring full support to an entire med fraternity which is being targeted by AAP ministers & MLAs," Badal said in a tweet.
BJP leader Sunil Jakhar said the treatment meted out to distinguished Dr Raj Bahadur is shameful & totally unacceptable. "Very sad that Dr Raj Bhadur (sic) has resigned, but he has done what any self-respecting person would do,” Jakhar said in a tweet.
Jouramajra is seen to be allegedly forcing Dr Bahadur to lie down on the same mattress. Bahadur in the video is seen explaining to the minister that he was not responsible for the facilities, to which the AAP leader retorted “everything is in your hands.”
After the incident, Bahadur reportedly told Bhagwant Mann that that kind of atmosphere was not conducive for his work, and requested him to relieve him of his duties.
Bahadur, 71, who has an experience of over four decades and has worked at various reputed health institutions too, told news agency PTI over phone on Saturday that he felt humiliated after the minister's behaviour toward him. Asked if he had resigned as the Vice Chancellor, Bahadur said, “I have expressed my anguish to the Chief Minister and said I felt humiliated.”
Bahadur, a specialist in spinal surgery and joint replacement, is a former director-principal of Government Medical College and Hospital in Chandigarh and has also been the head of the orthopaedic department at PGIMER, Chandigarh.
(agency inputs)
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