Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann apologises to Dr Raj Bahadur for health minister's rude behaviour, requests him to stay on

Tribune News Service

Vishav Bharti

Chandigarh, July 30

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday apologised to veteran surgeon Dr Raj Bahadur for the humiliation he received at the hands of Health Minister Chetan Singh Jauramajra.

Mann also asked the doctor to reconsider his decision to quit as vice chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot.

According to sources, after Dr Bahadur sent in his resignation to Mann on Saturday morning, the CM called up the doctor and apologised to him.

Sources said the CM told the surgeon that he was aware of his contribution to medical science and had warned the minister against such behaviour. He also tried to impress upon Dr Bahadur to reconsider his decision of quitting.

However, Dr Bahadur said it was difficult to carry on after the way he was humiliated.

Dr Bahadur is one of the eminent spine surgeons in the country. In his four-and-a-half-decade-long career as surgeon, he has been

head of the Department of Orthopaedics at PGI, Chandigarh, director-principal at Government Medical College, Chandigarh, and has

taught at Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi.

Though visibly shaken by the incident, Dr Bahadur stuck to his duty to his patients. He examined the patients at the Regional Spinal Injury Centre, Mohali, like he does on any other Saturday. “Before being an administrator, I am a doctor first and a doctor deserves respect,” he told The Tribune.

Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring called on Dr Bahadur at the Regional Spinal Injury Centre. This made the doctor emotional and he was seen holding back tears.

During his visit to Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, Faridkot, on Friday, Jauramajra told Dr Bahadur to lie down on a shabby bed.

Dr Bahadur said, “If my patients can lie on that bed, why can’t I? That is what I wanted the minister to understand.”