Sick Mohalla Clinics of Delhi Cause Deaths of Children

Mohalla Clinics failed to provide any service to people as Delhi is experiencing a deadly Covid-19 and Omicron calamity in which a number of people are catching infection and dying.

By Rakesh Raman

While Delhi chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal often praises the hyped performance of his Mohalla Clinics, people in Delhi complain about the uselessness of such a flawed health care concept.

Now, instead of treating Covid patients in the city, these Mohalla Clinics are causing deaths of the poor people who go there for treatment. Reports suggest that at least three children died after taking treatment at a Mohalla Clinic.

According to a report of December 21, 2021 in The Indian Express, the Delhi Government on December 20 sacked three doctors of the Mohalla Clinic in connection with the death of three minor children who died allegedly due to an adverse reaction to a drug. But there is no punitive action against Kejriwal and his health minister who have been conspiring to promote quackery at these so-called health care centers.

There is such an outrage among the people after the fateful incident, that a hashtag #kejriwalkilledchildren (Kejriwal killed children) trended on Twitter. People also shared a government document from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India that revealed the details of the incident.

Kejriwal knew that his Mohalla Clinics were disastrous, but he kept using public money to publicize them with an evil aim to deceive and entice the voters – not only in Delhi, but in other parts of the country too.

Nowadays, Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are spreading lies in Punjab about Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics because AAP wants to cheat the voters before the Punjab Assembly election scheduled to take place in 2022.

This is the reality of @ArvindKejriwal ‘s ‘Delhi model’. People will never trust the @AamAadmiParty convener who is solely responsible for devastation in the Capital & has now set his eyes on Punjab. #AsalDelhiModel pic.twitter.com/cCQFd5tahu

— Shiromani Akali Dal (@Akali_Dal_) September 24, 2021

Recently, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) – a rival party of AAP in Punjab – released a new video that exposes Kejriwal’s falsehood about Mohalla Clinics. “This is the reality of Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘Delhi model’. People will never trust the Aam Aadmi Party convener who is solely responsible for devastation in the Capital (New Delhi) and has now set his eyes on Punjab,” SAD tweeted along with the video.

Earlier, people in Delhi told RMN News Service that mostly these so-called community health care centers are locked and when they open they fail to provide proper medical treatment.

The attendants at Kejriwal’s Mohalla Clinics rather advise the patients to consult a good doctor in a private or government hospital. “Then what is the purpose of these Mohalla Clinics?” people question.

While the services at these clinics are not being provided in a transparent manner, it is largely believed that the so-called doctors at the clinics are not fully qualified. Also, Mohalla Clinics failed to provide any service to people as Delhi is experiencing a deadly Covid-19 and Omicron calamity in which a number of people are catching infection and dying.

Reports also suggest that these so-called Mohalla Clinics have been reduced to ruins and surrounded by stinking sites for dumping household waste. Worse, some of these Mohalla Clinic buildings are being used by local gamblers, drug addicts, and anti-social elements while Kejriwal and others in his cabal are still spreading false information about the clinics. [ Click here to watch a related video. ]

About 5 years ago, Kejriwal had promised to make 1,000 working Mohalla Clinics in the first year of his government, but he could make only about 160 clinic sites which are not providing any health care to patients.

This is another blatant lie of Kejriwal, as he has been telling lies about the quality of the school education system and the removal of corruption from Delhi. Moreover, Kejriwal’s government is so careless about health care that it has completely failed in controlling deadly pollution in Delhi which is also increasing the Covid lethality. Now, people are planning to leave the city because of increasing pollution, Covid infection, and crumbling health care infrastructure in Delhi.

It is reported that Kejriwal’s clinics are working in a totally perfunctory manner and – as an example – can handle on average one patient in less than two minutes. The opposition party BJP sarcastically remarked that only God can save patients from Kejriwal’s clinics.

Delhi’s Lt. Governor’s (LG) Anil Baijal has also received multiple complaints and observed that vigilance findings about the alleged irregularities in Mohalla Clinics were not addressed by the Kejriwal’s government.

The chattering classes in Delhi believe that it is a mere political stunt of Kejriwal and his clique as their AAP has been using Mohalla Clinics to woo the gullible voters. People also say there is no need for Kejriwal to paste his own life-size posters on Mohalla Clinics’ walls because Kejriwal is neither a doctor nor a compounder.

In fact, Kejriwal is misusing his authority and squandering huge public money to project his own image through the precincts of Mohalla Clinics. Obviously, Kejriwal’s maneuvers are tantamount to deception and corruption.

As the Mohalla Clinics concept has completely failed, people suggest that instead of offering treatment to patients, Kejriwal should first cure the sickness of his Mohalla Clinics. 

These days, Kejriwal is feeling more desperate because his status has been virtually reduced to the level of a personal assistant to Delhi’s LG Anil Baijal. Despite Kejriwal’s regular complaints, now LG Baijal is calling the shots in Delhi while Kejriwal has been relegated to a mere figurehead role. 

A new law – the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act – makes it clear that the term “government” in Delhi means the LG of Delhi and the elected government of Kejriwal cannot take any decision independently. In other words, the Kejriwal government will have to take LG’s consent before taking any executive action.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.

Video courtesy: ABP News