DW BUREAU / CHANDIGARH

Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal today demanded a 300 bed trauma centre be sanctioned for AIIMS, Bathinda besides opening of a centre of the Institute at Mansa and speedy completion of the Ferozepur PGIMER

Satellite Centre.

In a detailed speech, Mrs Harsimrat Badal informed parliament that despite the fact that 2,500 people visited AIIMS, Bathinda on a daily basis and it was situated alongside two major national highways which had a high incidence of road accidents; it had only 28 beds in its emergency ward. "I have been making requests for creating a 300 bed trauma centre for the last three years but to no avail. I fail to understand why we are not allocating funds for such an important task even as thousands of crores are being spent on statues and projects like the Bullet train".

Mrs Badal made a fervent appeal for installing a PET scan machine at AIIMS, Bathinda saying cancer cases in Punjab were increasing by 60 per cent each year and that its incidence amongst women was one of the highest in the country.

Mrs Badal also informed parliament that live donor kidney transplants had started in AIIMS, Bathinda and that there a State Organ Transplant and Tissue Transplant Organization (SOTTO) be established at the Institute. She also called for provision of high end ICU ventilators for her constituency, saying they were very much needed to reduce fatalities. She also called for grant of needed manpower to the Institute and establishment of required staff quarters for doctors and hostel accommodation.

Asserting that there was a need to broad base health facilities, Mrs Badal said the government had said that medical colleges would be established in every district but the fact was that allocation for funds for health had not increased as per the need. She said there was an urgent need to establish a centre of AIIMS, Bathinda at Mansa and that the same should be done. She also termed as unfortunate the inordinate delay in establishing the PGIMER Satellite Centre at Ferozepur and called for starting of work on its building and speedy completion.

The Bathinda MP also spoke on the tussle between the central government and the Punjab government on branding of health schemes. She said this tussle had resulted in a huge delay in release of funds to the State and said people should not be made to suffer on account of this. She also spoke on how Mohalla Clinics opened by the AAP government in Punjab had devastated the health system and become a centre for corruption.
(editor@dailyworld.in)