NEW DELHI: Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta on Monday slammed the government-run mohalla clinics for administering unprescribed drugs to patients despite orders against the practice. This daily on Sunday reported that a 1.5-year-old child being given dextromethorphan, a cough syrup, by one of the mohalla clinics, was rushed to Kalawati Saran children’s hospital for respiratory failure.
Recently, the hospital reported three deaths of children, who were administered this cough syrup, while 13 others were admitted to the hospital. “Despite recent deaths of innocent children, mohalla clinic doctors gave this medicine to yet another child. These clinics have become hotbeds of corruption and death. We demand a judicial probe into these incidents and the resignation of state health minister Satyendra Jain,” Gupta said.
He further said that so many children were down with serious illness, in some cases even death, just because of the “laxity and carelessness on part of these mohalla clinic doctors”. These clinics are part of the government’s healthcare system. “The government spent Rs 57,000 crore on healthcare system itself and of it, Rs 1,500 crore was spent initially on mohalla clinics. Had this amount been spent on city hospitals, the picture of Delhi’s healthcare system would have been different,” said Gupta.