Dozens of cancer-stricken patients from Punjab are forced to travel to Bikaner for affordable healthcare
Away from the hullabaloo of the Lok Sabha elections, 65-year-old Kuldeep Singh waits for his train, to Rajasthan, at the Bathinda railway station.
(India Votes 2014: Coverage)His destination is the Acharya Tulsi Cancer Hospital in Bikaner. The absence of affordable healthcare in Punjab forces dozens of cancer-stricken patients to travel there.
The excessive use of pesticides has poisoned the groundwater of Punjab's Malwa region. Once famous for its cotton crop, the region is now notorious as the 'cancer belt' of the state.
While the incidence of cancer is 80 per one lakh persons nationally, it is - at 107 -- far higher in Malwa.
(India Votes 2014: Candidates)As many as 33,318 people have lost their lives in the state in the last five years to the deadly disease.
Cancer has now become a major election issue in Malwa region.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the Akali Dal candidate who also happens to be the daughter-in-law of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, is seeking re-election from Bathinda constituency, which has the maximum number of cancer patients in the state.
(India Votes 2014: Schedule)"To protect cancer patients from touts, the Badal government started a cashless scheme for cancer treatment. A sum of Rs 1.5 lakh is disbursed to the hospital directly," she proudly says.
But even after the Chief Minister's Office clears the file of a patient, only those with a recommendation from a local Member of Legislative Assembly or an 'Akali Jathedar' (leader of an Akali takht) manage to get their funds released.
During the 2012 assembly polls, the Akali Dal had promised to build three cancer hospitals in Punjab, but the only step in that direction has been the laying of a foundation stone at Mullanpur near Chandigarh.
The simmering anger against politicians can be gauged by incidents of villagers chasing away candidates and their agents with black flags in several villages.
Congress candidate Manpreet Badal is trying to cash in on the resentment against the SAD-BJP government over its broken promises.
"This government has failed to come up with a comprehensive policy for the prevention and cure of cancer in this region," says Manpreet.