Mr Kejriwal had accused the PM of indulging in politics over public well being.
New Delhi:
The tussle between the Centre and the Delhi authorities over not implementing Ayushman Bharat escalated on Wednesday with Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena hitting out at AAP chief and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, claiming that he had disadvantaged individuals of the advantages of the healthcare scheme to forestall the “false mannequin” promoted by him from getting “uncovered”.
In a prolonged submit on X in Hindi, Mr Saxena stated he doesn’t take note of Mr Kejriwal’s baseless statements however was compelled to take action this time as a result of it involved the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, which advantages crores of Indians.
“You have stored lakhs of individuals of Delhi disadvantaged of this scheme until now solely due to the worry that its implementation could reveal the reality of the false well being mannequin being promoted by you and your behavior of taking false credit score for every part could get uncovered,” Mr Saxena claimed, including that Mr Kejriwal had opposed Ayushman Bharat as a result of he needed his identify related to it.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi had criticised the Delhi and West Bengal governments for failing to implement the Ayushman Bharat medical insurance scheme out of “political pursuits”, the AAP chief had accused the PM of indulging in politics over public well being. In a submit on Tuesday, he had additionally questioned the advantages underneath the scheme, saying the Comptroller and Auditor General had discovered a number of irregularities, and claimed the same initiative by the Delhi authorities had benefited lakhs of individuals.
Continuing his scathing assault, Mr Saxena stated the Delhi authorities’s well being division had advisable implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme in June 2018 and the then well being minister had given permission for doing so.
“After that, in August 2018, your authorities talked about naming the Ayushman Bharat scheme ‘Chief Minister Aam Aadmi Health Insurance Scheme Ayushman Bharat’. The Government of India, which bears most of the price of this scheme, additionally agreed to your self-glorification by merely asking you to make use of your identify after ‘Ayushman Bharat’,” the lieutenant governor wrote.
He stated that the implementation of the scheme was additionally introduced within the Delhi Assembly in 2020-21 however Mr Kejriwal’s “starvation for publicity” has not allowed it to occur.
‘Web Of Illusion’
Strongly criticising the Delhi well being mannequin, Mr Saxena termed it a “internet of phantasm” created by Mr Kejriwal’s “propaganda equipment”.
“You have been suppressing the CAG reviews of the well being division for years. You don’t permit these CAG reviews to be introduced within the Vidhan Sabha lest they expose your internet of illusions. Perhaps Delhi can be the one instance the place the High Court orders the well being minister to seem in particular person and asks him to make medicines obtainable to the individuals. Perhaps Delhi is the one instance the place the honourable courts needed to give orders to restore the CT scan machine within the largest hospital of the Delhi authorities,” he stated.
The lieutenant governor additionally accused the Delhi authorities of not revising the “Essential Drug List” since 2013.
“In the final 10 years, the individuals of Delhi have been very troubled by your hole well being mannequin. I hope that you simply (Mr Kejriwal) will put politics apart, settle for the reality and implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme for the individuals of Delhi as quickly as attainable. Since you’re not the chief minister, you’ll most likely not really feel the necessity to identify the Ayushman Bharat scheme after the chief minister,” Mr Saxena sneered.
‘More Procedures Covered’
BJP’s IT Cell head Amit Malviya additionally took to X to “expose” Mr Kejriwal’s lies on Ayushman Bharat and the Delhi healthcare programme and stated that whereas the previous chief minister has claimed that there is no such thing as a higher restrict underneath the ‘Delhi Arogya Kosh’, the cap is definitely Rs 5 lakh.
This submit exposes Arvind Kejriwal’s lies on Ayushman Bharat and Delhi’s Healthcare Programme. Read.
Arvind Kejriwal has been refusing to implement the Ayushman Bharat Yojana in Delhi. He is citing the next causes:
1. As per Arvind Kejriwal, Ayushman Bharat provides solely a… https://t.co/Mf0mDDkwqM
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) October 30, 2024
Among different issues, Mr Malviya additionally stated that the Delhi scheme doesn’t think about people who find themselves over the age of 70 and will not be voters throughout the nationwide capital and that the Ayushman Bharat covers many extra procedures.
AAP’s Take
Mr Kejriwal had stated he had but to fulfill an individual who acquired remedy by means of the Ayushman Bharat scheme and claimed that, underneath the Delhi authorities’s initiative, every particular person within the metropolis receives free medical remedy and the federal government bears your complete price whether or not it is a 5-rupee capsule or remedy value Rs 1 crore.
Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj additionally claimed that Ayushman Bharat is a “failed” scheme and stated poor sufferers from states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan – the place the scheme had been applied – visited hospitals within the capital for surgical procedures.
“Delhi authorities hospitals present free remedy not like the paid remedy supplied in BJP-ruled states. Delhi authorities well being schemes are far more practical than Ayushman Bharat scheme,” he asserted.