The Delhi government has ordered to seal the “dilapidated and hazardous” building of Rajan Babu TB Hospital, run by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday.
“Keeping in view the safety of the patients and staffers, strict orders have been issued to stop the services of doctors and pa ramedics at the hospital being run by the municipal body,” he said.
“This is the culmination of the civic body’s negligence. For the time being, patients will be shifted to other hospitals,” Mr. Jain said.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said the order to seal the hospital building is a politically motivated move “with an intention to malign the image of the north municipal corporation.”
“Rajan Babu Hospital is a 700-bed hospital providing specialised treatment in chest diseases, including tuberculosis and it was this hospital, during the critical second COVID, which provided 100 oxygen beds as an emergency measure when the Delhi government was failing in arranging oxygen beds. It is shocking that the Delhi government is trying to malign the hospital which aided it barely a few months ago,” said Mr. Singh.
The Minister said that treating patients in such a condition can prove to be fatal not only for the patients, but also for the doctors and other medical staff. He added that despite the building being declared dangerous by the North MCD, patients were being treated there.
North Delhi Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh said that under any normal circumstances, on receiving a complaint, the Minister should have sought an administrative report from the hospital or the Commissioner of North body on the status of the building. “But he chose to bypass the lawful system and has directly passed the order of vacation and sealing of the hospital,” Mr. Singh said.
