Patient with Ayushman card turned away by Amethi hospital whose trustees are from Gandhi family: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday alleged a patient died after an Amethi hospital with trustees from the Gandhi family denied him treatment saying it was not "Modi's hospital" where Ayushman Card would be accepted. The hospital authorities though accepted that the patient died at the facility, rejected suggestion it was linked with politics, saying no hospital has any political, religious or caste affiliation.

Speaking at a poll rally here, he also alleged that Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are not giving benefits of the Ayushman Bharat medical scheme to the poor and asked the people to teach Congress a lesson in the polls. "The Congress has always been insensitive to the poor. In Amethi (Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency), a poor person, who had the Ayushman Bharat card, was denied treatment by a hospital whose trustees are from the Gandhi family," Modi said.

"The person was told that this is not Modi's hospital where the Ayushman Bharat card will be accepted," the PM said. Earlier in the day, Union minister and BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Amethi Smriti Irani tweeted a video in which a man is heard saying that his uncle died as he was denied treatment by the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital after being told that "Modi's Ayushman Bharat card" was not accepted there.

SM Chaudhary, the medical director of the hospital, said the claims in the tweet are baseless. Irani is pitted against Gandhi in Amethi, which goes to polls Monday.

In Gwalior, Modi also said the Congress used to exhibit India's poverty to the world while his government has highlighted the nation's power. He said the trends after the first four phases of the Lok Sabha polls suggest that the Congress and its allies were staring at a defeat.

He told the gathering that he had not come to campaign for himself but to thank the people for supporting him since 2014. "The entire world is seeing for the first time how the people of the country have taken charge of the campaign for this 'sevak'," Modi said, adding that people trust him while the opposition abuses him.

"They (opposition) say Modi hatao (remove Modi). But people who have benefited from my government's schemes are saying 'phir ek baar' (Modi again as PM)," he told the crowd. He also said the Congress' apathy and inability is genesis of terrorism and Naxalism in the country. The PM said a Jal Shakti Mantralaya will be formed to solve water crisis by using river and sea water.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)