NEW DELHI: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain Saturday said he was scheduled to travel to Australia on the invitation of a university in Sydney and claimed that the central government has "denied permission" to him for it.
Sources in the central government, however said, in case of political clearance for Jain, a "considered decision" was taken based on inputs from its mission, and any suggestion to the contrary is "incorrect".
A delegation led by Jain was to visit Australia on the invitation of University of Melbourne and George Institute in Sydney.
The schedule included a dialogue on Mohalla Clinics and health revolution in Delhi, with the Victoria government, the Delhi government said in a statement.
"The BJP-led central government declined permission to Satyendar Jain to travel to Australia," the Delhi government alleged, and claimed, the MEA has said that permission was denied "from a political angle".
"I would like to know the exact reason behind the MEA's political angle," Jain was quoted as saying in the statement.
Sources in the central government said, a decision on political clearance for a foreign visit by the ministry is taken based on "several considerations".
These include inputs from mission which take into account a number of factors such as the participation of the host government, the source of the invitation, the nature of the event, level of participation, source of funding of the visit and the nature of hospitality, they said.
"In the case of political clearance for Satyendar Jain's visit to Australia, a considered decision was taken based on these inputs, and any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect," a source said.
The Delhi government said, the University of Melbourne was slated to host a dialogue on health and its diverse aspects with representatives of the Delhi Health Department and Victoria Government to explore the possibilities to engage in the field of public health and universal healthcare on November 26-27.
"The BJP-led Union government has once again shown how much they fear the good work of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and how they don't want the good work of the Delhi government to be showcased," the city government alleged.
Jain was supposed to deliver a lecture on the health care initiative taken by the government of Delhi and share the experience on the launching of extensive universal healthcare reforms in Delhi, it said.
"The meeting had lot of scope for mutual learning and collaboration in the field of universal health care (UHC).
It is stated that Australia's existing health infrastructure and systems are one of the best in the world," the statement said.
In the meeting other public health issues, dengue and possible solutions with the help of latest healthcare technologies developed by scientists in Australia were to be discussed.
The delegation was supposed to see the functioning of a few health facilities and visit George Institute of Global Health, Sydney to learn best practices in public health, the statement said.
"The Mohalla Clinics made by the Delhi government has been praised not only by several world leaders and governments but also been applauded by international media time and again.
Several delegations of health experts, international governments and researchers have visited these clinics in Delhi," it said.