Under the 'AAP's Health Reality Check' Campaign, Balbir Singh Sidhu Exposes Punjab Government's Health Model at Village Saneta
MOHALI: As part of the 'AAP's Health Reality Check' campaign, former Punjab Health Minister and senior Congress leader Balbir Singh Sidhu today visited Village Saneta, where he had laid the foundation stone for a 25-bed Primary Health Centre during the Congress government's tenure. Addressing the media, he said that while the Aam Aadmi Party had made grand promises of a healthcare revolution before coming to power, the ground reality today paints an entirely different picture.
Sidhu stated that the Saneta hospital was sanctioned by the Congress government with the objective of strengthening healthcare services for the people. The foundation stone was laid on June 20, 2021, in the presence of Member of Parliament Manish Tewari. The village panchayat donated 3.11 acres of land along the national highway for public welfare. A project worth ₹12.50 crore was approved, and the Congress government had already released ₹3 crore for its execution. However, after the change in government, the Aam Aadmi Party allegedly shelved the project deliberately.
He said that when Mohali was carved out as a separate health block, the sole objective was to provide modern healthcare facilities closer to home for residents of nearly 79 villages. Saneta was chosen due to its central location so that people from dozens of nearby villages would not have to travel long distances for treatment. However, even after four and a half years of the AAP government, the hospital remains incomplete and the promise made to the people remains unfulfilled. He described this as not only a failure of governance but also a betrayal of the healthcare rights of thousands of residents.
Sidhu further alleged that while the state government has started a Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Training Centre at the site, the original purpose of the land and project—to build a hospital providing healthcare services to the public—has been ignored. He said using Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's name while sidelining the actual healthcare project amounts to playing with the sentiments of the people.
He also questioned the Punjab government's claims of providing free medical treatment up to ₹10 lakh, alleging that patients are still being charged ₹300 to ₹500 for routine diagnostic tests. If people are paying out of their own pockets even for basic medical tests, he said, the government's promise of free treatment exists only in advertisements. According to him, instead of delivering quality healthcare, the government is relying on misleading publicity while ordinary Punjabis continue to bear the financial burden of medical expenses.
Sidhu further alleged that the foundation stone installed by the Congress government had been removed and replaced with a new plaque bearing the names of leaders of the present government. He accused the Aam Aadmi Party of attempting to erase history in order to claim credit for projects initiated by the previous Congress government. Rather than completing publicly funded development projects, he said, the government is merely renaming them and indulging in political credit-taking, which is unfair to the people and contrary to democratic traditions.
He said the Congress government had launched healthcare infrastructure projects worth hundreds of crores to strengthen Punjab's public health system, but the AAP government brought that momentum to a halt after assuming office. The shortage of doctors, lack of medicines, incomplete hospitals, and stalled healthcare projects, he claimed, clearly demonstrate the failure of the AAP government's much-publicised healthcare model.
Sidhu added that although the Aam Aadmi Party continues to promote its healthcare achievements through advertisements and publicity campaigns, the people of Punjab now understand the ground reality. When hospitals remain incomplete, patients are paying for medical tests, and healthcare services continue to deteriorate, he said, claims of a healthcare revolution amount to nothing more than hollow slogans.
Concluding his remarks, Balbir Singh Sidhu said that the 'AAP's Health Reality Check' campaign aims to expose the gap between the Punjab government's claims and the actual situation on the ground. He asserted that the Congress Party will continue its fight for better healthcare facilities and public welfare while demanding accountability for every healthcare project that, according to him, has been left incomplete by the present government.
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