National spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jaiveer Shergill, on Thursday alleged the move to open Aam Aadmi Clinics in Punjab crippled the rural healthcare in the state as the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP Government opened these clinics by shutting down rural dispensaries.
Shergill, who is also Punjab BJP Permanent Invitee member, said basic health services have become inaccessible to rural areas of the state due to the shutting down of rural dispensaries by the Aam Aadmi Party Government.
Referring to the 584 Aam Aadmi Clinics opened by the state government so far, Shergill said, “Rural dispensaries used to cater to the villagers near their houses, whereas the Aam Aadmi Clinics are located in far away from the villages, for which elderly people have to travel several kilometers in adverse weather conditions, that too, when they are ill.”
He said the AAP Government is playing with the lives of rural people by depriving them of even basic healthcare. Anticipating soaring temperatures and heat waves as summer has set it, the BJP spokesman said, “The need of the hour is to re-open rural dispensaries, which the AAP government has been closing at lightning speed.”
The BJP leader called shutting down of rural dispensaries is unjustified and uncalled-for as the move has crippled the rural healthcare in Punjab.
He alleged that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is opening Aam Aadmi Clinics just to implement the Delhi model. “It is extremely shameful that just to get cheap political mileage, the Chief Minister is taking such decisions that are ‘extremely detrimental’ for the health of the people of Punjab,” the BJP spokesperson said.