AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Saurabh Bharadwaj at latter’s residence in New Delhi
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday alleged that Delhi’s government hospitals, once considered a lifeline for ordinary residents, are now mired in crisis.
Speaking at a press conference, the party’s Delhi president, Saurabh Bharadwaj, claimed that the situation in government hospitals had never been so grim. “Shelves meant for medicines lie empty, surgical equipment and gloves are missing, and administrators have been barred from making even local purchases.”
Mr. Bharadwaj said earlier that all medicines and diagnostic tests in Delhi government hospitals were free. “If MRIs, CT scans, or other tests were not possible in a government hospital, patients were referred to private centres at no cost. Even surgeries delayed due to overload or shortage of surgeons were facilitated in private hospitals,” he said.
“Today, under the eight-month-old BJP government in Delhi, essential items like medicines, surgical equipment, gloves, and implants are unavailable, forcing patients to pay out of pocket. The same conditions are visible in central government hospitals like Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital,” Mr. Bharadwaj added.
AAP leader and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said people are struggling for medicines, stretchers, and gloves. “During the tenure of Arvind Kejriwal, hospitals were repaired with great difficulty, and medicines were provided free so that no common person had to buy them outside. The BJP has destroyed everything within six months,” he posted on X.
The BJP, however, hit back. Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva accused AAP of presiding over scams in the health sector during its tenure. “Saurabh Bharadwaj must not forget that during the Kejriwal government, there were procurement scams, fake patient registrations in Mohalla Clinics, and even distribution of counterfeit medicines. The AAP government also shut down diagnostic services in government hospitals, pathology, X-rays, MRIs, and handed them to private players under a kickback-driven model,” Mr. Sachdeva alleged.
Published – October 04, 2025 01:00 am IST
