New Delhi
Former Delhi tourism minister and Seemapuri MLA of ruling AAP, Rajendra Pal Gautam, has hit out at city bureaucrats and health department officials for neglecting facilities at Rajeev Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital in his constituency and forcing area residents to get tests from outside. Gautam’s outburst in the Assembly, in a way, drilled holes in the Arvind Kejriwal government’s claims that it had brought about a big change in the health infrastructure in the city during its rule.
Gautam said the government spent crores of rupees on setting up the world-class machinery in the hospital, but due to a lack of maintenance, it’s not working, and tests have stopped. Gautam said, “I urge the Assembly to get the records from the two hospitals of how many doctors have left. The money spent on the machinery has been wasted, and the number of patients is dwindling.” He said that due to the mismanagement of the bureaucrats, the hospitals are on the edge of closure; there are no facilities for medicines, machinery, or doctors. The MLA said the chief secretary should find a way to properly utilise the Rajiv Gandhi Hospital building.
Another MLA of the Aam Admi Party, Rituraj Govind, said there is no government hospital in his Kirari constituency. People have to travel to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, which is far away from Kirari and also overcrowded. He said, “In 2021, the government identified the land for the construction of a hospital in Kirari, but the hospital is not yet constructed.” On the other hand, responding to the claims of Gautam an AAP MLA, a senior Delhi government official said there are 33 hospitals under the government, of which eight, including Rajiv Gandhi, operate under societies formed by the government. “Due to mismanagement, the hospital’s medical director, Dr Sanjay Agarwal, has already been suspended,” he said, adding third-party performance audits could be done by the hospitals for the last five years to identify lapses and fix responsibility.
BJP MLA Abhay Verma, of Laxmi Nagar constituency, said that if hospitals are not working, then it’s due to the failure of the government, it had nothing to do with the administration. The government is imposing its blame on these officers, whereas, in reality, it is the failure of the government. Officers will only obey the decisions taken by the cabinet or the ministry, so there is no point in blaming the officers. In fact, the government gets exposed in front of the people, so just to protect themselves, they are blaming the bureaucrats.