North Delhi’s TB hospital building in dangerous state: Atishi

Refuting the allegations, the North MCD and the BJP said that only the building’s front portion has recently been declared dangerous, while three-fourths of the building that houses the hospital’s wards are safe and habitable.

After conducting a surprise inspection at Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis Hospital on Thursday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Atishi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North MCD) of “playing with the lives of Delhiites” and “providing treatment to patients in the dangerous building of the hospital”.

AAP legislator Atishi said that Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis Hospital building can collapse at any time and take numerous lives. (HT Archive)

Refuting the allegations, the North MCD and the BJP said that only the building’s front portion has recently been declared dangerous, while three-fourths of the building that houses the hospital’s wards are safe and habitable.

After the inspection, the AAP legislator said that the hospital’s building can collapse at any time and take numerous lives. “The BJP leaders have such a lust for money that they have left patients to die while being fully aware of the North MCD hospital’s fatal conditions. Everyone can see that the North MCD has itself written in front of the building ‘This building is hazardous, do not proceed ahead’. The structure is in a dangerous condition and has been designated as such. Though the building is on the verge of collapse, patients are being kept in this very building. Even the wards of the hospital are in a horrible state. If it is any indication, the BJP leaders are not only corrupt, but they also do not regret abandoning the people of Delhi,” she said.

Refuting the allegations, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor, said that this was nothing more than AAP’s petty politics to malign the image of Rajan Babu TB Hospital that has won accolades for serving TB patients not only of Delhi but across North India.

“In her video statement, the AAP MLA tried to portray that wards of North MCD’s Rajan Babu TB Hospital are being run from a dangerous building. Contrary to that, only the front portion of a building, which is actually a covered verandah, has recently been declared dangerous. The remaining three-fourths of the building that houses wards are safe and habitable,” he said.

Echoing Kapoor’s views, Jogi Ram Jain, the chairman of the standing committee of North MCD, said that the areas shown in the video issued by Atishi, also show that the wards have a well-maintained structure. “It is a mere political stunt to hog headlines as the patients’ attendants interviewed by her in the video also expressed satisfaction over the treatment being provided at the hospital,” he said.