NEW DELHI: The elevation of Atishi as Chief Minister has stirred some excitement among healthcare professionals. But for frontline workers, it is “business as usual.”
“During Kejriwal’s tenure, there was minimal improvement in specialised medical care, despite Delhi being a hub for patients nationwide. The government frequently touts a world-class health model, but true excellence requires consistency across all levels of care. Instead, the emphasis has largely been on primary care through the establishment of Mohalla clinics, often at the expense of existing polyclinics. Consequently, the status of hospitals, medical equipment, faculty, and overall infrastructure has not seen significant enhancement,” remarked a senior medical faculty of a major Delhi government-run hospital.
Similarly, Delhi’s education department, which has made significant strides and keeps underscoring its achievements, has been in a mess for the past one year due to the absence of a regular directorate of education (DoE) who technically controls the functioning of schools in the city.
The last regular director was Himanshu Gupta, who was appointed Secretary of CBSE in November 2023. Since then, only the officiating officers of the DoE have been on duty.
Among the other challenging tasks are long-due teachers’ transfers and promotions, no cognisance of the principals’ and teachers’ grievances, a pending exam budget, and no payment of the tablets bought by the teaching fraternity or for the management of the school committee.