Former union minister and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was denying health facilities to Punjabis by insisting on the nomenclature of Aam Aadmi Clinics for Health and Wellness Clinics under the Ayushman Bharat scheme now renamed as Ayushman Arogya Mandir.
This revelation was made in answer to a question put by Mrs Harsimrat Badal to the minister of health and family welfare in parliament asking whether the Punjab government’s claim that Rs 621 crore due to Punjab under the Ayushman scheme had been withheld by the Center. She had also asked if any probe was being conducted into fake patients/ doctors and staff in Aam Aadmi Clinics as well as whether funds under the scheme were being utilised for purposes other than those stipulated by the Centre.
The minister of health and family welfare said contrary to the claim of the AAP government only Rs 395.61 crore meant for the Ayushman scheme had been withheld. He said this was done because the Punjab government had not complied with the ministry’s norms vis a vis branding of the centres. He said the AAP government had also not followed the colour scheme as well as logos as per the union government guidelines.
The ministry in its reply said the AAP government was insistent on rebranding of the wellness centres despite repeated letters and even a review meeting to make everything clear to the government. He reiterated that full compliance with official names of centrally sponsored schemes as well as instructions issued by the union government regarding branding of the wellness centres had to be followed.
Asking chief minister Bhagwant Mann to take corrective steps immediately, Mrs Harsimrat Badal said “Punjabis should go without medicines and medical care solely because the AAP government wants to publicise the wellness centres for which funds are being provided by the centre as their own”.