Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has accused Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena’s office of neglecting the capital’s healthcare system, alleging a failure to address critical staff crunch at government hospitals on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference, Bharadwaj said despite multiple requests and letters from him and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, significant vacancies for medical personnel remained unfilled.

Bharadwaj stated that through a letter, the LG was informed that 30 per cent of doctors, 20 per cent of nurses, 30 per cent of pharmacists and about 1,658 posts of operation theatre technicians, lab technicians, and postmortem technicians are lying vacant. There are expensive equipment and operation theatres in hospitals, but due to lack of staff and doctors, people are not able to be operated upon, added Bharadwaj.

He presented letters written by him to the LG informing him about these unfilled vacancies. He said, “In March 2023, I took over as the Health Minister of Delhi and on 19 April 2023, I wrote the first letter to the LG, informing him that there is a shortage of 292 General Medical Duty Officers (GDMOs), 234 Specialists in Delhi Government hospitals and I had appealed to him through a letter to fill these vacancies as soon as possible”.

He further alleged that no action was taken to fill these vacancies, rather the doctors who were holding high positions in Delhi Government hospitals through Central Health Services (CHS) were also called back by the Central Government by removing them from Delhi Government hospitals.

Bharadwaj highlighted the need for doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, and technicians in Delhi’s public hospitals, noting that the shortage has left essential medical equipment idle and patients without necessary treatments. He emphasised that the responsibility for these appointments falls under the LG’s office, specifically the ‘Services’ Department, and criticized the lack of action taken to alleviate the issue.

The health minister referenced a committee led by Dr Sarin, constituted by the High Court, which reportedly found a substantial deficiency in the number of medical professionals in Delhi’s government hospitals. The committee recommended immediate contractual staffing to address the shortfall, but according to Bharadwaj, these suggestions have been ignored.

Bharadwaj accused the LG’s office of spreading misinformation, asserting that the office has deflected responsibility onto the Delhi government. He called on the LG to publicly address these concerns directly, rather than through indirect channels and told the urgency of hiring healthcare professionals on a contractual basis to ensure adequate patient care.

Showing another letter, Bharadwaj claimed that about a week ago, on July 26, he again wrote a letter to the LG requesting that since the ‘Services’ Department comes directly under him, the appointment of a doctor through UPSC can take a lot of time, so doctors should be hired for Delhi Government hospitals on contract basis as soon as possible, so that the poor people coming for treatment in Delhi Government hospitals can get complete and adequate treatment.