*Name AIIMS, Bathinda in honour of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur ji – Harsimrat K Badal*

Chandigarh, August 23 – Bathinda mp Harsimrat Kaur Badal today requested the union health ministry to name the prestigious AIIMS, Bathinda Institute in honour of ‘Hind ki Chadar’ Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur ji.

The Bathinda mp, who met union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on this issue in Delhi, said naming the AIIMS health care facility after Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur ji would be a befitting tribute to the ninth Guru who sacrificed his life so that the candle of religious freedom could remain aflame in our sacred land for all times to come. “Guru ji’s commitment to the cause of protecting the liberty of all people of the country is unparalleled. The supreme sacrifice of the Guru was a turning point in the history of the country and paved the way for formation of our great nation which respects all religions equally”, the mp asserted.

Mrs Badal also pointed out that a grateful nation was celebrating the 400^th birth anniversary of the great Guru and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had led the country in paying glowing tributes to Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur ji as well as remembering his supreme sacrifice. “Keeping this in view I am of the firm opinion that naming the premier Institute in honour of the great Guru would be most fitting”, she added.

Meanwhile the MP also urged the health minister to address the grievance of lab technicians running stand alone medical laboratories in the country. Mrs Badal said the latest rules governing laboratory technicians had been changed recognising only three categories of medical laboratories run by MBBS/MD, Phd and Msc passouts.

Mrs Badal said in Punjab only one thousand laboratories were being run by such professionals whereas an additional 9,000 laboratories were being run by professionals having Bsc and DMLT degrees. She said these professionals were included in the old rules governing registered laboratories but had now been omitted. Urging that these professionals also be included in the new rules, Mrs Badal said they already had pollution authorization certificates issued by the Punjab Pollution Control Board.

Handing over a memorandum in this regard on behalf of the Joint Association of Independent Medical Laboratory and Allied Professionals, Mrs Badal said the Association did not have any objection if all existing medical laboratories possessing pollution authorization up till 2022 were recognised and urged the minister to consider the same sympathetically.

Mr Mansukh Mandaviya assured Mrs Badal that all 6,000 medical laboratory technicians would continue to be recognised as per the old policy. EOM