New Delhi: Delhi LG VK Saxena has asked CM Arvind Kejriwal to implement Ayushman Bharat Health Scheme in the city to end misery of poor patients suffering due to its non-implementation. The LG has said that lakhs of migrants especially deprived of benefits under the scheme due to its non-implementation. The Delhi government, however, said that the LG unaware of ground realities; patient load from neighboring BJP-ruled states’ hospitals comparable to Delhi’s hospitals under Ayushman Bharat.
Delhi LG, upon requests and representations by several disadvantaged groups, that they were not able to avail the benefits of the Ayushman Bharat Health Scheme of the Government of India, because of its non-implementation in Delhi due to intransience of the AAP-led government, has recalled the file in this regard invoking Rule 19(5) of ToBR and asked the Chief Minister to implement the Scheme at the earliest for the benefit of poorest of the poor.
Saxena while disposing the file outlined that the government, despite having given in principle approval for implementation of Ayushman Bharat Scheme way back in 2018 and having announced it even in its budget in 2020, had inexplicably stalled it for merely political reasons, in the process depriving lakhs of poor migrants in the city of health services, under AB-PMJAY. He has also outlined the fact that the waiting list for issue of ration card to deserving beneficiaries has applicants waiting since 2018, and in the absence of such document, poor sick patients suffering from serious ailments could not avail of health benefits under other available schemes.
Saxena also brought to the fore the state of public health and government hospitals in Delhi, wherein recent observations by the High Court in an ongoing matter and the affidavits submitted by the GNCTD, obviously point towards a glaring gap.
The LG stressed in his note that successive Health Ministers since 2018, Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia and Saurabh Bhardwaj on as many as 6 occasions stalled the file on flimsy political pretext, despite the fact that their aim of credit seeking had been addressed right in the beginning, with the Government of India clarifying that “Ayushman Bharat” could be suffixed with any name that the GNCTD wanted.
The Delhi government reacted over LG remark that Kejriwal govt should implement Ayushman Bharat scheme in the city, the Delhi government said that the LG finds himself under scrutiny for a perceived disconnect from the ground realities plaguing the capital’s medical infrastructure. The government said that revelations of ineligible beneficiaries reaping benefits from PMJAY, as exposed by a recent CAG report, further emphasize the pressing need for action. As discrepancies within ‘Ayushman Bharat’ come to light, including issues with patient data and private hospital participation, the scheme’s practicality is called into question. Urgent appeals are made for the LG to tackle staffing shortages and settle outstanding payments to uphold seamless healthcare to the common people, as demands for accountability need to be ensured through the participation of the Health Secretary in the hospital inspections and meetings called by the Health Minister.
It said that the LG does not know that at most of the hospitals in Delhi, especially GTB Hospital & LBS Hospital and RTRM Hospital, which are situated either at the border of the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and the BJP-ruled Haryana, the patient load from these BJP-ruled neighboring States is comparable to the patient load from Delhi in these hospitals. In certain hospitals like GB Pant Hospital, almost half of the total number of surgeries performed is on patients from states wherein the Ayushman Bharat scheme is operational, like the BJP-ruled states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. It is very sad to see that though the LG is boasting about the Ayushman Bharat scheme, there is practically no success on the ground.
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