The Punjab government is claiming it was operating on, so to speak, a kneed-to-know basis. As per the Opposition, that claim has no legs.
On Saturday, a tableau by the state Health Department at the Independence Day parade in Ferozepur, attended by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, featured five men dancing the bhangra and identified by the announcer as “beneficiaries who had undergone knee-replacement surgeries under the Mukhmantri Sehat Bima Yojana”.
Only, the five are retired Health Department employees, who were dancing on sturdy knees very much their own.
As the facts trickled out, Ferozepur Civil Surgeon Dr Meenakshi Dhingra said they did nothing wrong. The participants, she said, were “part of a symbolic representation and were not being presented as actual patients”.
As the tableau, with 20-odd people, passed in front of CM Mann and others, the announcer said in reference to five men dancing to Babe Bhangra Paunde Ne: “These men are performing bhangra because they have successfully undergone procedures for knee replacement under the Mukhmantri Sehat Bima Yojana.”
The tableau was meant to highlight the achievements of the Health Department, particularly to depict the benefits that could be availed for cashless treatment up to Rs 10 lakh.
The five men were Suresh Kumar, Pritam Singh, Sarwan Singh and Malkiat Singh, all retired Health Department drivers, and Satpal Singh, a retired multipurpose worker. On Monday, phones of all of them were switched off and they could not be reached for comment.
Kumar, who spoke to the media earlier, said: “We are five retired employees. My knees have not been replaced, I cannot speak about the others. We were asked to perform.”
On why they did not use real beneficiaries, Civil Surgeon Dhingra said: “They cannot be identified in public. We would have never done that.”
The 26 participants in the tableau, she added, were meant to depict different health schemes of the department, including for knee transplants. “Those performing bhangra were just showing how the insurance scheme has helped the people,” she said.
Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh told The Indian Express that the purpose was to spread awareness about the medical procedures covered under the Mukhmantri Sehat Bima Yojana. “I do not understand why the controversy,” he said, adding that one should look at the figures instead of knee replacements under the programme.
He said: “9,971 people have undergone knee-replacement procedures under the scheme, with the government spending around Rs 79 crore on such treatment.”
Singh added: “Knee replacement is among the 10 most common procedures covered… The tableau was just a message for the people. Now, even the layman understands that they can get knee replacement done and lead a normal life.”
The government is planning similar presentations to create awareness about procedures such as liver and kidney transplants, cardiac stents and open-heart surgeries, he said.
Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY Mukhmantri Sehat Bima Yojana, launched in August 2019 under the previous Punjab government, is a flagship scheme which claims to provide cashless health insurance to 65% of the state’s population.
Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said Mann should issue an apology to the people over the issue, Balbir Singh should resign, and action taken against officials involved in the presentation. He described the episode as an example of the Aam Aadmi Party’s “reliance on drama and theatrics”.
Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa also described the tableau as an example of the Punjab model of governance under the AAP – “big claims, bigger publicity”. “The truth eventually catches up.”
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia said it was wrong that the AAP government had used Independence Day celebrations for “false propaganda”, and said Punjab’s hospitals need doctors, medicines and better treatment rather than publicity.
Five people, identified by the announcer as ‘beneficiaries’ of the scheme, dance at the I-Day parade in Ferozepur. (Express Photo) 
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