The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA and state Kissan Wing president Kultar Singh Sandhwan said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government were playing politics on the faulty ventilators purchased through PM Care Fund; while the people of the country were dying in large numbers due to Covid-19. He said that Captain Amarinder Singh, Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu and Medical Education Minister O P Soni were responsible for the deaths due to non-availability of ventilators and other health services in Punjab and a case of murder under section 302 should be registered against all of them. In a press conference convened at the party headquarters here on Thursday, Kultar Singh Sandhwan said that the deaths of Covid patients in Punjab were due to the non-availability of ventilators which were to be provided by Captain Amarinder Singh's government.Sandhwan said that he had taken up the matter with the Punjab government on September 8, 2020 against the poor quality ventilators sent through PM Care Fund and the matter was also taken up in a high level meeting held on March 5, 2021 at Baba Farid Medical College in which Medical Education Minister O P Soni along with secretaries, MLAs and Deputy Commissioners of the department were present on the occasion. He said that during the meeting when discussion was held on the 14 ventilators kept in the medical college; it was informed that these ventilators were not working properly and hence they were not being used.
Taking a dig at the Captain government, Sandhwan said that he had raised the issue of ventilators from time to time, but the Punjab government had not solved the problem of ventilators and today when young and elderly were dying due to lack of ventilators, the Captain government was saying that they will get the ventilators sent by the centre, repaired. He demanded that instead of fixing these ventilators, the government should arrange new and better quality ventilators. Defending the doctors, nurses and paramedical staff of the state, Sandhwan said that they were working day and night to save the lives of the people in the pandemic, so the government should not try to take action against any doctor or other staff. He demanded that the purchase of substandard ventilators through the PM Care Fund across the country should be investigated by the present judge of the Supreme Court and cases should be registered against those who, through the PM Care Fund, committed fraud with the companies.Lashing out at Captain Amarinder Singh, the AAP leader further said that the people of Punjab were in distress due to Covid but the Chief Minister was enjoying his farmhouse. “Protecting the people of Punjab is not even a priority of Captain Amarinder Singh. The people are being robbed in government hospitals through AMRIT Pharmacy and a major scam is also being perpetrated through the Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojna,” said Sandhwan. He demanded that price lists of medicines should be posted in all the hospitals to save the people from fleecing.