Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday said there is a shortage of nearly 30 per cent doctors and specialists in several hospitals and no efforts have been made to fill these crucial vacancies despite repeated requests to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena. Bharadwaj said the excuses cited by the Lieutenant Governor’s office for the delay in appointments to these posts were the chief minister’s unavailability and the National Capital Civil Services Authority (NCCSA) not meeting.
He said this during a press conference, where he also discussed the steps taken by the Delhi government to deal with the spread of dengue. Hitting back at the minister, the Lt Governor’s Secretariat alleged that Bhardwaj had “miserably failed” in handling the departments under his charge. “It seems that now he has got a new opportunity to save his ministerial position by abusing the Lt Governor on a daily basis without any basis,” it said. The minister said he has directed to take several measures to deal with the spread of dengue in the national capital.
“We have asked them to make awareness announcements at all metro stations, bus stands and other public transport hubs to inform people about dengue prevention,” the minister said. He stressed that it was very important that all government hospitals in the city were fully prepared to deal with dengue cases. Bhardwaj said he had directed the health secretary to take several steps, but he was not completely sure if those steps had been implemented. “I have directed the health secretary to visit one government hospital every day to check whether all necessary equipment related to dengue are available or not,” the minister said.
However, I do not know whether these visits have started or not. If these (visits) have not started, I will personally visit the hospitals and ensure compliance.” Bhardwaj said he had a meeting with the health secretary and other officials on Friday where ”I pointed out that my previous instructions have not been implemented yet.” Bhardwaj alleged that whenever there is a major crisis in Delhi, documents show that Lt. Governor V.K. Saxena is behind it. Throwing light on the Asha Kiran shelter home case, where 13 inmates died in July, the minister said investigations revealed that there was a shortage of doctors and medical staff. ”The responsibility for appointments lies with the Lt. Governor. Since becoming a minister, I have written dozens of letters to the Lt. Governor about the 30 per cent vacancies.
