Arvind Kejriwal. (File)Setting the stage for yet another confrontation with Capt Amarinder Singh’s government, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday said the Aam Aadmi Party workers will go to every village, street and neighbourhood of Punjab to check people’s oxygen levels as state battles against a surge in Covid-In a video message, Kejriwal appealed to the people of Punjab to help AAP volunteers in carrying out the campaign.
“Corona is spreading in every direction. In Punjab too, corona has spread a lot. Everyone has to come together now and take some steps. AAP has decided to join hands with people and try to save as many lives as possible. In Delhi, we have seen that oximeters have proved to be very helpful. So AAP will provide oximeters to every village, street and neighbourhood of Punjab,” Kejriwal said.
“AAP volunteers will go to every house and check the oxygen levels of people. Coronavirus infection causes a drop in the oxygen level and that can even lead to death. So we will check the oxygen level and if someone’s oxygen is found less then they will be taken for check up to a hospital. I appeal to the people of Punjab to come together and help AAP volunteers in carrying out the drive,” he added.
Kejriwal had on August 15 announced that the AAP will set up centres for testing saturation of oxygen content in blood using oximeters in 30,000 villages across the country.
Meanwhile, in Punjab his party held both the ruling Congress and previous SAD-BJP government equally responsible for the “collapse” of government health facilities during the pandemic. Leader of the Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema and in-charge of Punjab Affairs Jarnail Singh (MLA) launched the campaign said the party has planned to distribute around 20,000 oximeters across the state, including 13,000 in villages.
The party will manage it with the help of its own funds and some donors, said sources.
Cheema questioned the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s claim of having spent Rs 500 crore on the war against coronavirus, when doctors and paramedics were constrained to work overtime due to severe shortage of staff and lack of safety kits and necessary equipment, resulting in protests by health workers.
He demanded a white paper on the matter.
Punjab Affairs in-charge AAP leader Jarnail Singh said that skilled volunteers of the party would go door to door to check the oxygen level of villagers through oximeters and help people with low oxygen levels get required treatment.
Jarnail Singh said the Kejriwal government in Delhi spends “14 per cent” of its GDP on healthcare.
“Our campaign’s objective is to wake up the government sleeping in the farmhouse so that CM can, instead of making scary predictions about the outbreak, work rigorously to control this rampant epidemic as the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi has done,” said Cheema, while addressing media in Jalandhar, adding that the state government’s campaign against Covid-19 for Mission Fateh and other health services has “failed miserably”.
From the last 20-25 years, both Congress and SAD governments, which have been ruling turnwise, have ruined public health in connivance with the private health mafia, he alleged. “Kejriwal government has won exemplary victory against coronavirus in Delhi because it has worked in a revolutionary manner in public health services and adopted the best model to counter the virus. But the Punjab government is neither learning from its mistakes nor is it ready to adopt the Delhi model. No mission can be won because of such an arrogant and irresponsible attitude, ” he further said.