How Jouramajra's 4-week tenure spelled trouble for fraternity

Vishav Bharti

Chandigarh, July 30

From entering labour rooms of two different government hospitals with shoes on to holding doctors responsible for bad toilets and bullying the staff with a large army of AAP supporters. This is how Health and Medical Education Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra’s tenure of four weeks has been.

The minister fails to have any clue about hospital safety protocols and was often seen thronging hospitals and medical colleges with a large army of supporters.

In his small tenure, a similar violation of hospital safety norms was witnessed in Sangrur and Fatehgarh Sahib district hospitals as well, where he entered the labour rooms along with his supporters and all of them with their shoes on.

Dr Gurinder Singh Grewal, former president of the Punjab Medical Council, said the minister must understand that when he enters a labour room with shoes on, he was not only violating a hospital protocol, but also putting young lives at risk. The CM must make his ministers aware of their limits.

The situation is such that the minister doesn’t even understands the difference between the functioning of Medical Education and Health Departments and is often found questioning health officials for faults. This was evident even on Friday, when after spotting wild growth at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, he was seen looking for the Civil Surgeon, who heads healthcare services in the district and has nothing to do with medical college, as it falls under the Department of Medical Education and Research.

Similarly, during his tour to Amritsar, he was found pointing fingers at senior doctors. Even two officials, including the Director-Principal and Medical Superintendent, resigned soon after yesterday’s incident.

All attempts to contact Jouramajra remained futile as his phone was switched off.