"Wonder why..."! Shashi Tharoor questions Amit Shah\'s choice of private hospital instead of AIIMS

"Wonder why..."! Shashi Tharoor questions Amit Shah's choice of private hospital instead of AIIMS

A team of doctors led by AIIMS, Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria, will visit Medanta Hospital in Gurugram to oversee Shah's line of treatment

Congress legislator Shashi Tharoor raised questions over Home Minister Amit Shah's decision to choose a private hospital for his coronavirus treatment instead of going to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi. Shah tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday and was taken to Medanta Hospital in Gurugram for treatment.

"...Wonder why our Home Minister, when ill, chose not to go to AIIMS but to a private hospital in a neighbouring state. Public institutions need the patronage of the powerful if they are to inspire public confidence," Tharoor said in a tweet.

The Congress leader was responding to a tweet calling AIIMS one of the 'Temples of modern India', a term coined by the first Prime Minister of the country, Jawahar Lal Nehru and included establishments such as heavy industries, educational institutes, scientific research bodies, financial organisations, etc.

AIIMS, Delhi has been one of the institutes at the forefront of fight against coronavirus in India. Reports suggest that a team of doctors led by AIIMS, Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria, will visit Medanta to oversee Shah's line of treatment.

Shah, the first union minister to contract the virus, confirmed on Sunday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and admitted to a hospital on doctors' advice.

"I have undergone a coronavirus test after showing initial symptoms and have tested positive. My health is fine but I am getting admitted to a hospital on the advice of doctors," the Home Minister tweeted in Hindi.

Shah also requested people who had come in contact with him in the last few days to get tested for coronavirus and isolate themselves. He was coming to his office in North Block regularly, apart from working from home.

On Monday, his colleague and Union Minister for Law and Justice, Electronics and Information Technology and Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad self-isolated himself for a few days as he had met Shah on Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, several political leaders wished Shah a speedy recovery.