NEW DELHI: Another flashpoint emerged between the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday evening, after Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain was allegedly denied permission to visit Australia where he was to showcase the Mohalla clinic scheme at University of Melbourne.
According to the Delhi government, Jain was also scheduled to visit George Institute in Sydney. The university was to host a dialogue on health and its diverse aspects with representatives of the Delhi government’s health department. The two-day visit, beginning on November 26, also included some official meetings with the Victoria government in Australia.
“I would like to know the exact reason behind the MEA’s “political angle” (for denying permission to go ahead),” Jain was quoted as saying in a Delhi government statement. Incidentally, the AAP government’s mohalla clinics have earned praise from various personalities such as former United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon and former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.
The meeting had a lot of scope for mutual learning and collaboration in the field of Universal Health Care, the statement said. “Australia’s health infrastructure and systems are one of the best in the world. In the meeting, public health issues such as dengue and possible solutions with the help of latest health care technologies developed by Australian scientists were to be discussed.”
“It is quite obvious from the central government’s diktat to decline the travel request that it is not bothered for the country and its successes. Rather, they are more interesting in crushing their political opponents and works done by the AAP government,” the statement added. Incidentally, Saturday’s episode is not the first such time when an AAP leader had to cancel a foreign visit. Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had to face similar trouble before he got the nod from the Centre.
Similar case, different result
In August, Sisodia alleged he was denied permission to take part in the World Education Conference in Moscow, Russia. Later, the MEA gave him permission to go on the foreign trip. A twin-city agreement was signed between Moscow and Delhi.