Jaito legislator Amolak Singh denies any personal grudge with Dr Bahadur

Tribune News Service

Balwant Garg

Faridkot, July 30

The alleged annoyance of a ruling party MLA with the Vice Chancellor (VC) of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) has subjected the latter to humiliation at the hands of the state Health Minister at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital here yesterday.

Why VC be blamed for dirty bed sheets

How can a VC be responsible for shabby bed sheets in prison ward of a hospital when there’s a chain of command starting from the Principal to a Medical Superintendent, head of department and a head nurse in an institution to take care of these things? — Amolak Singh, Jaito’s Aam Aadmi Party MLA

While the incident has left the medical fraternity from across the country fuming, doctors at the Faridkot hospital revealed that the Health Minister’s visit was stage-managed by the MLA to catch the VC on the wrong foot and make him swallow his pride.

Ignoring 1,100 beds for indoor patients in the 22 departments of the medical college, the minister walked to the prison ward of the hospital and opened a room to find the bed sheets in a shabby condition.

Upset on seeing the ‘untidy’ bed sheets, the minister directed VC Dr Raj Bahadur to lie on the bed to feel the taste of its untidiness. The VC didn’t show much resistance, keeping in view a large number of party workers, including an MLA, accompanying the minister in the hospital room, alleged doctors at the Faridkot hospital.

When contacted, college principal Rajeev Sharma failed to explain the happening in the room. Talking to The Tribune, he said there was a huge rush of unknown persons accompanying the minister during his entry to the prison ward. “So, I was unable to gain an entry to the room,” he said.

Many doctors in the medical college alleged the minister’s visit to the hospital was pre-scripted as the MLA wanted to settle a score with the VC. In the last session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, this MLA had demanded the removal of Dr Bahadur from the post of the university VC. As the state government did not respond to his demand, he allegedly used the minister’s visit to settle the score.

Meanwhile, 30-year-old Amolak Singh, AAP MLA from Jaito, denied he has any personal grudge with the VC. How can a VC be responsible for the shabby bed sheets in prison ward of a hospital when there is a chain of command starting from the Principal to a Medical Superintendent, HoD and a head nurse in a medical institution to take care of these things, the MLA said, adding that the VC was responsible for all wrongs.

I don’t know the reasons of the MLA’s annoyance with me, said Dr Bahadur.

This two-room prison ward was established in the skin department of the hospital about two months ago. Earlier, prisons were kept in different wards and the Jail Department had raised the issue with the district administration, demanding it to shift to one department in the hospital for security reasons as there were many incidents of inmates escaping from the hospital here.

As there are low admissions of indoor patients to the skin department, so we reserved 12 of 30 beds in the prisons. These 12 beds are in two rooms. As there are two-three prisoners at a time, so while one room with six beds is in use, the other room was kept in reserve, said a senior functionary in the hospital, preferring not to give his name. It’s amazing that the minister knocked on this ‘reserve’ room as a sample to check the hospital condition, he added.

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