NEW DELHI: After forming the cabinet, the newly-elected CM Rekha Gupta-led government in the city is all set to overhaul the healthcare system of Delhi.
With the implementation of Ayushman Bharat as among the first decisions, the new government has now decided to "upgrade" Aam Aadmi Party's flagship Mohalla Clinics into Urban Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAMs) as modern primary healthcare centres adding Ayurveda facilities there.
According to a document accessed by TNIE, the health department has drafted a proposal to rebrand the Aam Aadmi Party's flagship Mohalla Clinics as Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.
The department has laid out a plan to upgrade existing Mohalla Clinics into Urban Arogya Ayushman Mandirs under the Ayushman Bharat Infrastructure Mission Scheme (PM-BHIM). The target is to establish 1,139 such centres, including the conversion of 553 existing Mohalla Clinics and the construction of 413 new ones.
Furthermore, all eleven districts in Delhi will have one model Ayushman Arogya Mandirs each, and the initiative will extend to dispensaries under both the Delhi government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
To ensure a swift rollout, district officials have been instructed to identify government lands and buildings for setting up these primary health centres. The department has set a deadline of 30 days post-cabinet approval to implement the new initiatives.
In addition, the government aims to enroll the first one lakh beneficiaries under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. The proposals were approved by Health Minister Pankaj Singh in the first meeting with the state health department held on Friday.
“Those Mohalla clinics, which are on the land of the Delhi govt will convert them to make them better and include Ayurvedic facilities. We would also establish Ayushman Arogya Mandirs near JJ clusters to ensure free primary health care for all residents in these areas,” Singh said after the meeting.
Additionally, the government is set to expand the reach of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers beyond slum areas and unauthorized colonies to affluent neighbourhoods and gated communities. To facilitate this expansion, a proposal to increase the ASHA workforce will be submitted to the Centre, officials told TNIE.
The BJP has been attacking the AAP government, which was in power in Delhi for the last 10 years, over alleged irregularities in operations of Mohalla Clinics, which the saffron party claimed were plagued with fake tests and ghost patients, turning them into "money-spinning ATMs".
