Punjab Health Minister Jouramajra under fire for forcing surgeon to lie down on dirty mattress

Vice-Chancellor Raj Bahadur of Baba Farid Medical University has been learnt to have resigned and requested Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to relieve him from services.

Punjab Health Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra has come under fire from several quarters after he was seen forcing the Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) to lie on a dirty mattress at a hospital.

V-C Raj Bahadur has been learnt to have resigned and requested the Punjab Chief Minister to relieve him from services.

The incident happened on Friday, when Mr. Jouramajra was on an inspection to Faridkot's Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, which comes under the BFUHS.

A video clip of the incident that circulated on the social media, showed Mr. Jouramajra place a hand on the veteran surgeon's shoulder as he pointed towards the "damaged and dirty condition" of the mattress inside the hospital's skin department. The Minister is then seen to be allegedly forcing Dr. Bahadur to lie down on the same mattress.

Dr. Bahadur in the video is seen explaining to the Minister that he was not responsible for the facilities, to which the AAP leader retorted “everything is in your hands.” After the incident, Dr. Bahadur reportedly told Bhagwant Mann that the kind of atmosphere was not conducive for his work and requested him to relieve him of his duties.

Dr. Bahadur, 71, who has an experience of over four decades having worked at various reputed health institutions too, told PTI over the phone on Saturday that he felt humiliated after the Minister's behaviour with him.