BJP to revamp and rebrand Mohalla Clinic as ‘Arogya Mandirs’

A senior BJP leader said that the Mohalla clinics have become synonymous with the Aam Aadmi Party’s mismanagement

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders said on Friday that the incoming BJP government will likely rename the Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics as “Ayushman Arogya Mandirs”. Mohalla Clinics were a key point of friction and political mudslinging in the run up to the Delhi assembly polls, with the BJP calling them dysfunctional.

A Mohalla Clinic in Jangpura in south-east Delhi on Friday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

A senior BJP leader said that the Mohalla Clinics have become synonymous with the Aam Aadmi Party’s mismanagement, fake tests and scams, and these centres will be revamped and established in JJ clusters and unauthorised colonies to strengthen healthcare infrastructure in these communities.

“These sites will be turned into Ayushman Arogya Mandirs and they will help provide quality healthcare for all residents. Under the AAP, these clinics did not actually benefit people and they have been associated with scams,” the BJP leader said, requesting anonymity.

In its manifesto, called Sankalpa Patra, the BJP had said that it would “transform dysfunctional and dilapidated Mohalla clinics into Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.” The Sankalpa Patra said that “despite allocation of crores” by the AAP, Mohalla clinics were in a “pathetic condition.”

The Arogya Mandirs will provide facilities like medical care during pregnancy and for newborns, OPS services and diagnosis and screening/treatment of both communicable and non-communicable diseases, people aware of the matter said.

The Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics were launched on July 19, 2015,as a flagship scheme of the AAP government for primary healthcare. While 1,000 such clinics were proposed, only at least 500 were opened.

The Mohalla Clinics have also been at the centre of several controversies. Lieutenant governor V K Saxena had ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the allegations of fake diagnostic tests prescribed by the Delhi government-run Mohalla Clinics to benefit private labs.

The BJP won the Delhi assembly elections with a landslide victory in the recently concluded assembly elections. The party won 48 seats while the AAP’s tally dropped from 62 in 2020 to 22.