Strong protest against govt decision to hand over 5 hospitals to private hands
Ferozepur, December 9, 2025: Healthcare workers and activists staged a massive protest outside Civil Hospital Ferozepur on Monday, giving a “befitting reply” to the Punjab government’s decision to run five government hospitals under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The demonstration, which included a complete work boycott and a subsequent chakka jam, was led by the Save Health Services Struggle Committee, Ferozepur district.
The five hospitals slated for privatisation are located in Ferozepur, Moga, Gurdaspur, Rajpura, and Moonak.
Addressing the protesters, state convener of the committee Ravinder Luthra launched a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party government. “The AAP came to power promising revolutionary changes in healthcare and an end to the loot by private hospitals. Instead, it is now conspiring to completely destroy the already inadequate public health services in Punjab,” Luthra said.
He accused the government of shirking its responsibility by handing over public hospitals to private players instead of filling thousands of vacant posts on a regular basis, increasing staff strength as per population ratio, and ensuring 24×7 health services in rural areas.
“The government is adding fuel to the fire. It is killing the already dying public health system while refusing to stop the exploitation of poor patients by private hospitals,” Luthra alleged.
He further claimed that the much-publicised Aam Aadmi Clinics have exposed the government’s so-called “health revolution”, where doctors and paramedical staff are paid on a per-patient basis.
Luthra also slammed the government for delaying salaries of its own employees despite claiming a full treasury, calling it a mockery of its financial health.
The protesters warned of intensifying the agitation if the decision to privatise the five hospitals is not rolled back immediately.
This rally was attended by Rakesh Gill, Raj Kumar Kukar, Davinder Singh, Harpreet Singh, Shekhar, Maninder Singh and Ajit Singh, Amarjit Singh, Jajjbir Singh, Ankush Bhandari, Narinder Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Gurmel Singh, Vijay Kumar Happy, Gurpreet Singh, Deepak Pasricha, Puneet Mehta, Ravinder Sharma, Sandeep Singh, Naresh Garg, Sunil Kumar, Aman Singh Sharma, Arun Kumar, Radhe Sham, Jasbir Singh, Aman Kamboj, Lakhwinder Singh, Darshan Lal, Rakesh Kumar, Gurjant Singh, Manoj Garvor, Dr. Lalit, Mangal Singh, Dr. Mukhman Singh, Dr. Harbans Singh, Lovepreet Singh, Amarinder Singh, Vishal Gupta, Kanwaljit Singh, Harjit Singh, Raman, Amarjit Singh, Rinku Kamboj, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Harminder Pal Singh, Satpal Singh, Mala Rani, Dr. Manmeet Kaur, Harminder Kaur, Dr. Aman, Dr. Binu Bansal, Shivani Shukla, Munjala, Pinky Gill, Bhupinder Kaur, Mandeep Kaur, Veerpal Kaur, Bandana, Manisha Arora, Purnama, Daljit Kaur, Geeta Grover, Geeta Hans, Jagir Kaur, Paramjit Kaur, Nisha Rani, Saroj Bala, Renu Bala, Manju Bala, Rajwinder Kaur, Joginder Kaur, Gagandeep Kaur, the above leaders warned the government that if this decision is not withdrawn, then the MLAs and ministers of Punjab will be surrounded.