NEW DELHI: A war of words raged between AAP leaders and Karnataka health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao as latter criticised AAP-led government’s Mohalla Clinic after making a visit there with his Delhi counterpart on Friday. Rao initially praised the Mohalla Clinic model of the Delhi government but an hour later, he tweeted that he returned “disappointed.”
“Visited a Mohalla Clinic in Delhi with hardly any people there. Our clinics in Karnataka have more facilities including a laboratory to do immediate tests for patients. I guess it is overhyped and I came back feeling disappointed,” Rao said.
After facing embarrassment, the AAP leader said that the Karnataka Minister wanted to see how the Delhi government was implementing its health policies. He observed that the mohalla clinic was functioning effectively. Mohalla Clinics have been operational for the last 6-7 years and people have appreciated their services.
The AAP leader claimed that Rao received a phone call following which left saying he had a meeting to attend. The tweet arrived a short while later. However, only Rao can clarify why his statement changed from praise to criticism. The party further said that in his tweet, he claimed that Namma Clinic in Karnataka had better infrastructure than Mohalla Clinic.
To verify this claim, AAP’s Karnataka team visited a Namma Clinic in Dinesh Gundu Rao’s constituency of Gandhi Nagar. They found that both Namma Clinic and Primary Health Center were located adjacent to each other. People mentioned that the Primary Health Center had been closed for a long time. Namma Clinic, in reality, is just a name.
It was initiated by the BJP government. The clinic provides only primary treatment for some illnesses like fever. Patients are only referred to other hospitals from here. The party said that comparison between Namma Clinic and Delhi’s Mohalla Clinic is unjust. Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics are well-equipped, and treatment is provided free of cost. Numerous tests are conducted free of charge in Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics.