Blame game over shifting of ventilators from Gurdaspur

Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Gurdaspur, May 15

An unsavoury situation has developed with Gurdaspur MP Sunny Deol’s personal staff objecting to the shifting of four ventilators from the district to the Ludhiana Civil Surgeon’s office.

The MP had given two such machines from his MPLAD fund, while the other two had been donated by Dubai businessman Surinder Pal Singh Oberoi during the first wave of Covid in March last year. In extreme cases, a ventilator becomes essential to keep a patient alive.

On May 6, the Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner wrote to his Gurdaspur counterpart seeking four ventilators as these were lying “unused”.

Acting promptly, Gurdaspur DC Mohammad Ishfaq and Civil Surgeon Dr Harbhajan Ram made arrangements to shift the ventilators to Ludhiana.

The machines, sources say, were lying in a state of disuse because of shortage of ‘critical care staff’ needed to manage these. While the MP is recuperating in a US hospital following a shoulder injury, his staff started pointing fingers at the district administration over the move “despite the fact that the number of Covid patients was showing an increase across the state and not in Ludhiana alone.”

Minutes after Deol’s PA Pankaj Joshi made this accusation, Ishfaq clarified he had taken the consent of both Deol and Oberoi in writing. He also made it clear the machines were shifted “on a temporary basis”. Dr Satnam Singh Nijjar, Chairman, Gurdaspur Planning Board, had facilitated the DC’s conversation with Oberoi, who is in Dubai. Oberoi, while speaking to The Tribune, confirmed the DC had taken his permission. Minutes after Joshi’s had levelled the allegations at a specially convened press conference, Ishfaq clarified his position through a press release.

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