Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has urged Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to implement the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat health scheme at the earliest, a source at Raj Niwas said on Sunday.
According to an official, a file noting by the L-G stated, “It would be in the interest of the people of Delhi that AB-PMJAY (Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana) is implemented at the earliest in the National Capital and I urge you to do so. Such progressive steps would not only alleviate the financial burden on low-income families and lakhs of migrants but also contribute to the overall well-being and health security of people.”
Mr. Saxena said that the Delhi government, despite having given an in-principle approval for the scheme’s implementation back in 2018 and even having announced it in its Budget in 2020, inexplicably stalled it for merely political reasons.
According to the source, the L-G said the delay in the implementation of the scheme has deprived lakhs of poor migrants in the city of health services.
Reacting to the noting, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the Comptroller and Auditor General had recently highlighted many grave discrepancies in the scheme, including invalid names, duplicate health IDs, as well as unrealistic dates of birth and family sizes in the database of AB-PMJAY.
“We invite the L-G to come and visit a few hospitals situated at the Uttar Pradesh border along with the Minister of Health and bring along all media channels so that they can see the ground reality of the Ayushman Bharat scheme and how this scheme is a success only on the paper and, in practical, this scheme is a complete failure,” he said in a statement.
“Instead of playing partisan politics, the LG is requested to ensure that the vacant sanctioned posts of doctors, specialists, nurses and paramedics are filled by UPSC/DSSSB at the earliest and during the interim period these posts are filled on a contractual basis so that all the services in Delhi government hospitals are made functional,” he added.
