₹1,800-cr SAARC hospital turns out to be another proposed-and-forgotten project

IN REPLY TO AN RTI PLEA, THE CENTRE STATED THAT THE MATTER WAS UNDER THE CONSIDERATION OF PUNJAB GOVT

It’s been eight years since the Punjab government and officials of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for establishing a ₹1,800crore super-specialty hospital in Amritsar. However, there has been no effort from the state government to take ahead the project that was proposed during the SAARC conference held in Lahore in 2013.

Amritsar was selected for this hospital in view of its location in South Asia, an international airport, hotel industry and religious tourism. It was also decided that renowned medicos from SAARC countries will offer their services at the hospital with an aim to provide economical and quality treatment to the needy.

Need for an affordable and high-end healthcare facility is being felt all the more as the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the existing medical infrastructure to the brink. Government Medical College, Amritsar, which is the oldest and largest in the northern region, is struggling to cope up with the pressure of patients.

Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM), a city-based NGO, had raised the issue with Union health minister Dr Harshwardhan through a communiqué under the Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2016. The ministry stated that the matter was under the consideration of the Punjab government.

A tentative site for the SAARC hospital was chosen on the premises of an abandoned community health centre (CHC) building in Verka locality, but the state government is yet to allot the site for the project.

Manmohan Singh, a senior member of the AVM, said, “What I feel is that this hospital is almost a dead project. I don’t know why the government is not taking this ahead.”

“We also approached Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu when she represented Amritsar East constituency where the tentative site is situated. She said the file was on the table of the then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. When Congress came to power in 2017, her husband Navjot Singh Sidhu became a minister in Punjab. We asked Sidhu to get the file signed by the CM, but he said he will bring a new and bigger project to Amritsar,” he said.

“I wrote to the state and central governments in 2018 in this regard, but got no reply,” said Amritsar member of Parliament Gurjit Singh Aujla, adding, “I will again raise the matter with the government”.

When contacted, Amritsar civil surgeon Dr Charanjit Singh Brar, whose office was involved in the process of executing this project, did not respond to phone calls.