CHANDIGARH, Mar 13:
Punjab’s health system could go under the knife with 13 doctors making it to the state assembly this election, including 10 from the AAP which is set to form the next government.
“I feel the way the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) worked in Delhi in various sectors, particularly health, instilled confidence among doctors. The doctors were excited and wanted this (Delhi) system in Punjab too.
“We felt if we have proper infrastructure here, we can deliver better. I was doing a government job and saw the shortcomings there, which we will rectify now,” Baljit Kaur (46), an eye surgeon, commented on most of the winning AAP candidates coming from the medical background.
Kaur, the AAP candidate from Malout, had defeated SAD’s Harpreet Singh by a margin of 40,261 votes.
The entrance of qualified doctors into the political space has got a thumbs-up from various quarters who have called it a “sign of positive change”.
Among the 13 doctors elected to the state assembly, two are women practitioners — Amandeep Kaur Arora from Moga and Baljit Kaur from Malout — and belong to the AAP.
One doctor each has been elected as MLA from the Congress, SAD and BSP.
The AAP MLAs said the health infrastructure of Punjab is set to get a major boost given the party’s track record in Delhi, where the AAP is credited with starting various public health initiatives like mohalla clinics.
Among the winning AAP MLAs from the medical field are Charanjit Singh, an eye surgeon, who defeated the outgoing chief minister and three-time MLA Charanjit Singh Channi from Chamkaur Sahib seat.
It was a sweet revenge for Singh, who runs a hospital in Morinda, as he was defeated by Channi in the 2017 polls by a margin of over 12,000 votes.
The medicos from the AAP said people of Punjab have voted for change and entrusted them with big responsibility, and among their priorities will be to transform the health and education sectors of the northern state.
Singh (61), MS (Eye), PGIMER Chandigarh defeated Channi by a margin of 7,942 votes. The first-time legislator told PTI that Punjab’s health system will need to be set right. (PTI)
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