Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday accused the BJP government of ruining the state’s public health system and claimed that it was now “on a ventilator”.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s state headquarters, Yadav released a booklet titled ‘Samajwadi Audit: Health Department on Ventilator’. “The health department itself needs treatment. The BJP government is unable to run them,” he added. “We want that no card should be demanded from the poor in hospitals. Treatment for the poor must be free. The SP chief also criticised the government’s handling of Raksha Bandhan, alleging that women were left stranded despite promises of free bus travel.
Government hospitals have 41% of posts vacant. There are 6,000 vacant posts for doctors and 24,000 for nursing and paramedical staff,” Yadav claimed. “Gorakhpur AIIMS has 604 vacant doctor posts and Rae Bareli AIIMS around 600, even though land for both institutions was allotted during the previous Samajwadi Party government. Yadav also claimed that UP has only one doctor for every 16,000 people. He said the number of primary health centres had declined, with 70 fewer centres in Gorakhpur alone, the home district of chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
He alleged that patients admitted to government hospitals were often treated for the wrong ailments, leading to “deaths due to negligence”. Similar shortages exist in Agra, Prayagraj and other districts, he said. Yadav said the Samajwadi Party’s election manifesto would prioritise healthcare. When the SP government returns, no card will be asked for and treatment will be free,” he said. “The government kept lying while people wandered,” he said. He blamed the government for rising prices of sugar, petrol, diesel and essential commodities, promising to implement Dr Ram Manohar Lohia’s “price control” policy if the SP returned to power.
