Centre trying to destroy Delhi’s ‘world-class’ healthcare system

New Delhi: Delhi Minister Atishi on Friday accused the BJP-led Centre of trying to destroy the national capital’s “world-class” healthcare system by initiating fake inquiries. Her remarks come in the aftermath of the Union Home Ministry ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the supply of substandard medicines in Delhi government hospitals and whether the drugs were also distributed through mohalla clinics.

Lt Governor VK Saxena recommended the CBI probe into alleged fake lab tests and ghost patients at Delhi’s seven mohalla clinics, Raj Niwas officials said on Thursday. Atishi said at a press conference that the AAP dispensation’s mohalla clinic model has received praise worldwide. “Mohalla clinics are a clean and well-maintained setup where medicines are given free to every person. The BJP-led Centre is trying to destroy Delhi’s world-class health model. How is it being done? By levelling false allegations and initiating fake inquiries,” she added.

The minister said no inquiry has ever been refused. “Every day inquiries are being initiated. We have never refused any inquiry. This inquiry is not being carried out to investigate corruption but to ensure that officers are scared and fear is instilled in medical superintendents of hospitals,” she said. Atishi alleged that these inquiries will scare officers now and reiterated that it is the BJP’s conspiracy to stop them from working.

With a CBI inquiry being ordered into the supply of substandard medicines in Delhi government hospitals, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Friday said out of the “43 samples” collected from three hospitals, only five of them were declared “not of standard quality”.

At a press conference here, he said in the official report, the terms “NSQ” or “not of standard quality” has been used many times, and in it, it is “nowhere mentioned that the drugs are fake, imitation, poison, spurious”. “You cannot write it officially like that as it wasn’t so,” he said.

The Union Home ministry has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the alleged supply of substandard medicines in Delhi government hospitals and whether the drugs were also distributed through mohalla clinics, sources said on Friday. The CBI probe was ordered following a recommendation by Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena on the matter in December last year.