Chandigarh : In a joint statement issued here Congress General Secretaries Sh. Ram Pal Dhaipi and Sh. Raj Pal Singh said here today that Shiromani Akali Dal BJP Government in Punjab is shirking from its fundamental duty of providing basic health facilities to the people of the State especially the Cancer prone Malwa belt of Punjab. Even constitutionally Health is a State subject. Responsibility for building dedicated hospitals and Research Institutes lies on the State Government but it is sorry to find that the State Government has been shifting onus on the Centre Government instead of doing something on its own just to divert the attention of the people from the failure of the SAD BJP Government on this count.
Congress leaders further said that instead of doing something concrete in the issue raised by the Congress leaders the Akali Member Parliament is raising hue and cry for Central help. Though the menace of Cancer epidemic is so strong that the Central help would be required to fight it and help people of the Cancer prone area. The poor people are losing their kith and kin falling prey to the disease and the family members left behind face the dragon of debt compelling them to sell their properties due to the huge expenses being incurred on the patients in the absence of treatment facilities available in the region.
They added that with the efforts of Congress leaders especially the Leader of Congress Legislature Party Smt. Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who met the Union Health Minister Sh. Ghulam Nabi Azad, a Central team visited the cancer inflicted areas last week. But it is most unfortunate and matter of regret that the Central team was misled by the statistics stating the number of Cancer patients in the region to 10-40 per lakh against 125-130 in the country supplied to the team. It is shocking to note that the number of patients in the region is much more than those stated in the official figures supplied to the Central team. In this regard a Health Survey in the State of Punjab especially in Malwa region be conducted to ascertain the actual number of Cancer patients and the Health facilities available in this region.