Kangra, Feb 10 (UNI) Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition, Jai Ram Thakur, launched a scathing attack on the Sukhu-led Congress government, accusing it of putting patients’ lives at risk by increasing diagnostic test rates and shirking its financial responsibility under the Centre-sponsored Free Diagnostic Initiative Service.
Thakur warned that the state’s reluctance to contribute its mandatory 10 per cent share is turning the sick into “easy targets,” even as the Centre continues to cover 90 per cent of costs.
“Despite being a welfare state, the Sukhu government is reluctant to even pay this small share and is instead increasing test rates, making the sick the easiest targets,” he alleged.
He said, “While the Narendra Modi government has lifted nearly 25 crore people out of poverty, the state government was snatching the right to free diagnostics from Himachal’s 75-lakh population.” Thakur questioned why patients should pay the price for the government’s financial mismanagement.
The Leader of Opposition further alleged that while free diagnostic services were being affected, the government had recently approved internet allowances for officers, appointed a close associate as board chairman, engaged an army of advisers, and spent crores on lawyers to defend unconstitutional CPS appointments.
Thakur said the earlier Himcare scheme, which benefitted thousands, was scrapped, forcing people to take loans for treatment. “Instead of curbing unnecessary expenses on friends and favourites, the Chief Minister is burdening patients. This injustice must stop,” he asserted.
