A day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal issued directions from ED custody on ensuring that medicines and tests are available to people at all Government hospitals and mohalla clinics, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya questioned the AAP Chief’s concerns, stating that had he really been worried he would have implemented the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme.
He highlighted the potential benefits of these schemes, including substantial financial support and enhanced healthcare infrastructure, which could significantly improve healthcare access for the people of Delhi.
Under the PM-ABHIM scheme alone, Delhi was allocated a substantial amount of Rs 2406.77 crore for the establishment of Urban Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, integrated public health labs, and critical care blocks. Mandaviya emphasised that despite repeated urgings, the Delhi Government had failed to sign the necessary Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to avail of this financial support, suggesting a lack of commitment to addressing healthcare challenges.
Furthermore, Mandaviya pointed out that the non-implementation of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) had deprived around 30 lakh people in Delhi of health coverage benefits.
“Delhi hosts a migrant population from across the country. They are generally the beneficiaries of AB PMJAY. To cater to the healthcare requirement of this migrant population, the Centre has empanelled 92 hospitals. However, the Delhi government run hospitals are not empanelled under the scheme.
“Thus, these beneficiaries are facing challenges in availing healthcare services under the scheme. Further, the Delhi government hospitals would have also benefited from the claim amount reimbursed for providing services to the beneficiaries from other states,” Mandaviya said.
The NHA has written to non-implementing states for at least on-boarding their public hospitals for the benefit of beneficiaries from other states, he said.
Mandaviya further alleged that in the last 10 years there has been no increase in the number of hospital beds in Delhi. More than half of the beds are in the four Central Government hospitals- AIIMS, RML, Safadrjung and Lady Hardinge.
Also, medical colleges and seats are not being increased. TB cases are increasing in the national capital and effective steps are not being taken to combat the disease. The city is also lagging behind in immunization as compared to other UTs, he alleged.
Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had said on Tuesday that the latest directions from Kejriwal show that despite being in custody, he always thinks about the wellbeing of the people of Delhi.
