Kejriwal says will work with MCDs to defeat Covid, blame game begins soon after

Arvind Kejriwal's meeting with commissioners of the three municipalities over handling of the Covid-19 situation was held through video conference late Saturday evening and was also attended by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s appeal to the commissioners of the three municipal corporations to increase Covid-19 beds in hospitals run by the civic agencies, triggered a blame game on Sunday despite the CM stressing that cooperation between the Centre, state and the municipal bodies was the only way to defeat the pandemic when record infections threatened to overwhelm the healthcare infrastructure in the Capital.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal during review a meeting on the situation of Coronavirus in Delhi. ANI Photo

"I request all three MCDs to provide more beds, we are ready to provide things which will be needed. The Delhi government is preparing beds on a large scale in Yamuna Sports Complex and Commonwealth Games Village. I request all (the) three MCDs to give maximum medical infrastructure and manpower so that we can use them properly," Kejriwal said in a statement released by Delhi government.

Hospitals under the civic bodies in Delhi include Kasturba Hospital, Hindu Rao Hospital, Maharishi Balak Ram Hospital, and Girdharilal Hospital. Several of them reserved beds for Covid-19 patients during previous waves of infection recorded in Delhi. While some of them were recently approved as Covid-19 hospitals by the Delhi disaster management authority (DDMA), few others were still awaiting the approval, said a senior official of the DDMA. Delhi’s lieutenant governor Anil Baijal is the chairperson of the DDMA. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is the vice chairperson.

The meeting with commissioners of the three municipalities was held through video conference late Saturday evening and was also attended by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and health minister Satyendar Jain, as per the statement.

In a separate briefing on Sunday, Kejriwal said Delhi recorded around 25,500 new cases in the last 24 hour cycle and a positivity rate of 30% -- up from around 24,000 new cases and a positivity rate of around 24%, reported the previous day. He said less than 100 ICU beds remained available for Covid patients and urged the Centre to increase the number of reserved Covid-19 beds to 7,000 from the current 1,800 in the city and also increase the supply of oxygen to hospitals, citing the rapid surge in cases.

Kejriwal also asserted that the Delhi government was ready to initiate a door-to-door vaccination drive if permitted by the central government and sought municipal corporations’ support for such proposals. He also underlined that the current crisis could only be solved if all worked together.

"Central government, Delhi government and MCDs will work together. Only then we will be able to handle the current surge of Covid in Delhi. Even in the first wave, the central government, Delhi government and MCD had successfully worked together in Delhi. We will all work shoulder to shoulder for the people of Delhi and the country. If we get permission from the central government, then we will start door-to-door vaccination on a large scale in Delhi. We need your help," Kejriwal was quoted as saying in the statement. The three MCDs are run by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and have often been at loggerheads with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Kejriwal.

It didn’t take long for the blame game to start after Kejriwal’s appeal to the three MCDs. AAP accused the municipal bodies of irresponsible behaviour during the pandemic.

“On one side, the Kejriwal government is making an all-out effort to deal with the Covid-19 situation but, on the other side, BJP-ruled MCDs are betraying residents of Delhi. The BJP-ruled MCD has around 3,127 hospital beds in Delhi but they have not provided a single bed for Covid-19 patients yet. It is very shameful that at a time when every citizen is extending their help for Covid-19 patients, the BJP-ruled MCDs are busy doing politics,” said the AAP’s in charge of municipal affairs Durgesh Pathak.

The BJP dismissed the claims as “baseless”.

“Before levelling such baseless allegations on MCDs, Mr Durgesh Pathak should ask his Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as to why the Delhi Government is not allowing MCDs to use their hospitals for Covid patients’ treatment. All three MCDs last week itself offered in writing their maximum possible hospital infrastructure for treatment of Covid patients but till today Kejriwal Government has approved only two such offers. They are the ones causing the delay,” said Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor.