CAG report on Delhi health referred to PAC

New Delhi : Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Monday targeted the AAP over a CAG report on public health infrastructure and management of health services in the capital, calling it an “expose of widespread corruption”.

The report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has been sent to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for review, and the findings are expected in three months. Delhi Assembly witnessed high drama during Gupta’s address on Monday, as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Jarnail Singh was marshalled out for disrupting the proceedings, prompting a walkout by all the AAP legislators.

Accusing the previous AAP government of mismanaging Delhi’s healthcare system, Gupta said, “Every department under their government was in shambles and needed treatment. The ‘Mohalla Clinics’ became a den of corruption, with no doctors, no medicines, and no patients.

“Many positions in the health department remain vacant. They bought equipment at inflated prices, and much of it is still lying unused in storage.” Alleging that the hospitals lacked essential staff, Gupta said 2,186 nursing positions remain unfilled and that expensive medical machines are gathering dust in warehouses instead of being used in ICUs and CCUs.

“Fake patients were recorded in the Mohalla Clinics, fraudulent medical tests were conducted, payments were manipulated, and many hospitals were shut down. There was a scam in hospital cleaning contracts as well,” Gupta claimed.

The CAG report on Delhi’s health sector from 2016-17 to 2021-22, which Gupta tabled in the assembly on February 28, highlighted multiple irregularities in public healthcare spending.

“Several discrepancies were raised in the report. It has now been sent to the PAC, which will submit its findings within three months. Additionally, the Assembly Secretariat will forward the report to the health department, which must present an action taken note within a month,” the chief minister said.

On BJP’s poll promise of providing Rs 2,500 monthly financial assistance to women, Gupta said, “AAP should not question us as to when we will provide Rs 2,500 (to women). They left Delhi government’s accounts in shackles. While we will definitely fulfil our promise, AAP surely doesn’t deserve to question us on this.”

Apart from sending the CAG report to the PAC, Speaker Vijendra Gupta also directed the Delhi health department to present an action taken note after one month.

After the chief minister’s address, the maiden session of the newly-elected eighth Delhi Assembly was adjourned sine die by the speaker.