After months of uncertainty over the future of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s flagship primary health project, Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal on Monday cleared the proposal for setting up of mohalla clinics, though with some ‘safeguards’.
The project had been delayed after complaints of irregularities were received by Mr. Baijal, leading to a probe by the Vigilance Department. The lack of land for the project had also held up the project.
Concerted effort
A delegation of 43 AAP MLAs had gone to visit Mr. Baijal on August 30 to push him to clear the project.
In a six-hour stand-off, the MLAs refused to leave till the issue was sorted out, leading to the L-G and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal agreeing to a meeting the next day.
After the meeting, both Mr. Baijal and Mr. Kejriwal said the issue would be resolved soon.
As per a statement by Raj Niwas on Monday, Mr. Baijal had approved the proposal with the “incorporation of certain safeguards to promote transparency and ensure delivery of quality health care services to the residents of Delhi”.
One of the complaints about the project, which currently has 102 clinics in rented accommodation and 56 in porta-cabins, was that the rented properties belonged to AAP supporters or workers.
‘Rents should be fixed’
As per the statement, Mr. Baijal said there was a need for a transparent mechanism for selection of premises for the clinics. He added that the rents should be fixed in a transparent manner as per norms of the Central Public Works Department or the Public Works Department.
On the quality of healthcare, Mr. Baijal said the doctors and staff hired for working in the clinics should be adequately qualified and hired through a transparent process. Since the doctors working in the clinics are paid per patient, complaints of fudging the figures were also received.
Addressing complaints of “data rigging”, Mr. Baijal said there was a need for a system to verify the number of patients. After discussing it with Mr. Kejriwal and Health Minister Satyendar Jain, the L-G said an online system linked with Aadhaar or biometric details of patients should be put in place in six months.
‘Monitor functioning’
Mr. Baijal also said that the conditions regarding land-use and construction of temporary structures laid down by the land-owning agency giving land for a clinic must be followed. He said the Health Department should monitor the functioning of the clinics to prevent “any unfortunate happening”.
After Mr. Baijal’s decision on Monday, Mr. Kejriwal tweeted: “Thank u so much sir. We are grateful to u. We will implement all the safeguards (sic)”.