Health Minister gives Rs 50,000 to family of child rescued during recent floods

Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh today met eight-year-old Abhijot Singh, a native of Talwandi Rai Dadu, Ajnala, who is currently being treated at the paediatric ward of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. Abhijot was rescued during floods in a critical condition and has been fighting nephrotic syndrome for the last three years.

He was diagnosed by Dr Rakesh Sharma, a senior surgeon, from Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, who accompanied the team of doctors from AIIMS in flood-affected villages of Ajnala.

Dr Balbir Singh interacted with Abhijot and his family and handed over a cheque of Rs 50,000 to them for his treatment. He said that the entire cost of the child’s treatment would be borne by the Punjab Government.

Health Minister, Punjab, inquired about his treatment and current condition and said that doctors of the PGI were also being consulted for the treatment of the child suffering from kidney disease.

Abhijot’s condition became critical due to lack of medicines during the floods, but the Health Department team admitted him to medical college, Amritsar, on time through boat ambulance.

Earlier, he flagged off 15 ambulances from Amritsar medical college to help the flood-affected families of Ajnala. Around 23 vans have already been sent for the flood-affected areas to conduct medical check-up of the people and to also provide them with free medicines.

“My visit today is primarily to see the medical relief work going on in the flood-affected areas and in view of the emergency situation, these ambulances have been sent to provide health services to the people,” he said.

The Health Minister said that “Our first task during the floods was to rescue people and deliver relief materials. He said that now the water level has come down considerably and Health Department teams are continuously going to the villages and doing fogging and anti-larvae spraying. The Health Minister said that any medical assistance can be obtained by dialling helpline number 104.

The Health Department teams are going from door-to-door to provide information about dengue and chikungunya diseases and blood samples of suspected persons are also being taken.