Fatehgarh Sahib, June 24

Congress MP Samsher Singh Dullo lashed out at the state Health Department for returning grant worth Rs 15 lakh, which he had given for a ventilator for the Civil Hospital, Fatehgarh Sahib.

Addressing the media, he said he handed over a cheque of Rs 15 lakh from his MPLAD funds to the DC. He said after two months the office of the Civil Surgeon returned the cheque saying they couldn’t use the grant as neither there was a proper place to install the machine nor they had expert staff to operate it.

The district got three ventilators from the PM Cares Fund, but the authorities installed all those ventilators at Indus Hospital, a private hospital at Peerjain village.

Dr Mohinder Singh, Civil Surgeon, said the department had received a grant of Rs 15 lakh from the MP, but there was shortage of doctors in the hospital and they do not have expert and trained staff to operate the ventilator.

He said he had written to the MP and expressed helplessness to use the grant. He said he returned the amount so that the MP might use it for any other social purpose. He said the hospital got three ventilators from the PM fund and installed them in the Indus Hospital, where patients were being treated free of cost. — OC