Delhi LG questions state of health infra, CM points to officials

LG Saxena in a three-page letter to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal dated February 3, cited remarks made by the Delhi high court regarding health infrastructure

Lieutenant governor VK Saxena has written to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, expressing his “disappointment and concern” about the state of public health infrastructure in the Capital, and seeking a “time bound response” and the submission of a factual report about the sector.

Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. (PTI)

Kejriwal, responding to the development, has laid the blame for the state of Delhi’s health system on two bureaucrats — the health secretary and the finance secretary — and asked Saxena to replace them both.

Saxena in a three-page letter to Kejriwal dated February 3, cited remarks made by the Delhi high court regarding health infrastructure, media reports on the non-availability of facilities such as CT scans and ventilator beds, and an investigation in a case where a man died after he was refused treatment by government hospitals due to non-functioning equipment.

HT has seen a copy of the LG’s letter.

The LG wrote that the Capital deserves a world-class healthcare system, not one “plagued by systemic dysfunction and neglect, as is the case now”.

“The Court’s remarks highlighting and fixing of inadequate infrastructure, manpower shortage, inefficient patient management, and potential financial mismanagement paint a deeply troubling picture. These issues are not merely administrative oversight they are direct violations of fundamental duties of the government... and cast a long shadow of disrepute on the nation’s capital,” Saxena added.

The LG’s communication says that the government inherited a fairly robust health infrastructure which is enormously supplemented by health institutions run by the Government of India. “There are ample funds are available at your disposal as indeed the best medical manpower in the city. Such a situation leaves little scope or space of inaction and failures,” he wrote.

Saxena added that in June 2023, he flagged related issues to enhance the public health infrastructure and bed capacity in the city.

“...bed capacity has been almost in a state of limbo for past 10 years. Similarly, the recent episodes regarding fake tests on ghost patients on Mohalla clinic and reports of drug tests failing tests of efficacy are issues that need urgent attention,” he wrote.

Kejriwal, in a two-page response to the LG dated February 4, said that he has asked the health minister for a report on the health infrastructure, and also sought an urgent administrative change. “I have written to you earlier also to replace health secretary Deepak Kumar, who is not only inefficient but openly defies the oral and written order of this minister. How can an elected government function if the seniormost bureaucrat in that department refuses to follow the orders?” the CM said.

HT has seen a copy of Kejriwal’s letter.

The chief minister also alleged that finance secretary Ashish Verma had in the past stopped the payments of medicines and lab tests, along with the disbursement of doctors’ salaries and the farishetey scheme, thus “paralysing the entire health system”.

The finance secretary said, “The finance department has nothing to do with the matter. All hospitals have been given sufficient allocation in the budget which in any case is decided by the cabinet.”

The health secretary did not respond to requests for comment.