The Congress party, on Wednesday, alleged a scam of Rs 382 crore in the health services of Delhi under the AAP government citing Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports in the poll-bound national capital.
Addressing a press conference here, Congress treasurer Ajay Maken, citing the CAG reports yet to be tabled in the legislative assembly, called out the AAP for the allegations it made against other parties while listing multiple lapses, including cost escalation of projects, inflated tenders, and negligence during the COVID pandemic under its own government.
Presenting the first episode of ‘AAP’s sins’, he said, “There is a leader in Delhi who formed his own party so that he could fight against corruption. At that time, Kejriwal used to make allegations against Congress only on the basis of the CAG report,” he pointed out. There are, at present, as many as 14 CAG reports with serious allegations of corruption against the Kejriwal government but none of them are allowed to come out. Why, he asked.
“CAG visited various hospitals in Delhi to see the condition of the patients and found that there were nine hospitals in the city with bed occupancy rates 101 to 190 per cent even as two patients were made to lie on one bed while the bed occupancy rates in seven others is 109 to 169 per cent.”
The Congress leader pointed out that according to the CAG reports, only three hospitals were built in Delhi in the last 10 years. Among them, one is an extension of the one started during the Congress regime.
“These hospitals not only took more time to build but also were built with a budget inflated from the original tender amount. The report states that Rs 314 crore were wasted in building the Indira Gandhi Hospital, Rs 41 crore were wasted in building the Burari Hospital, and Rs 26 crore were wasted in building the Maulana Azad Hospital,” Maken claimed.
According to the report, he said between 2007-15, 15 plots were acquired by the Delhi government but work did not start anywhere as yet. Of the money received for infrastructure projects from financial year 2016-17 to 2021-22, Rs 2,623 crore remained unutilised and later lapsed.
“During Corona, the Kejriwal government received Rs 635 crore from the Centre, out of which he could not spend Rs 360 crore while at that time people in Delhi were yearning for oxygen cylinders and beds. The AAP said in four different budgets that we would build 32,000 bed hospitals in Delhi, but built only 1,235 bed hospitals,” the Congress treasurer said.
On unemployment in Delhi, he alleged that there are 8,194 vacancies in the health sector, including over three thousand in the Health and Family Welfare Department, 1,532 in Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), 1,036 in State Health Mission, and 75 in Drug Control Department among others.
There is a shortage of 21 per cent nursing staff, 30 per cent paramedical staff, and specialist doctors each, but the government is paying no heed to the requirements, he said.
On the condition of hospitals in Delhi, the Congress leader said, “Such is the state of affairs in Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital that six modulars, semi modular operation theatres, transplant ICU, 77 private-special rooms, 16 ICU beds, 154 general beds are not operational.”
Similarly, in the Janakpuri Super Specialty Hospital, seven operation theatres, kitchen, blood bank, emergency, medical gas pipeline, 10 CCU beds, 200 general beds are not working and the Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, which is the biggest hospital for children, the waiting time for surgery of children is 12 months, also 10 essential equipments in the operation theatre here do not work, Maken pointed out.
In a political remark against AAP’s National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Maken said those who rose to power by promising corruption-free transparent government are hiding the CAG reports that expose their misdeeds and are showcasing the failure of their so-called health model.