BJP raps Kejriwal govt for failing to take responsibility over Delhi's poor health infra

Slamming the Delhi government for its lingering cry for help, and accusations in the dreaded second wave of COVID-19,  the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday highlighted that the government spent money on advertisement in the last 6 years instead of the health care infrastructure. National spokesperson of the saffron party Sambit Patra while addressing the media supported his statement with data and said, "Arvind Kejriwal spent Rs 804.93 crores on advertisement since 2015, but he didn't open a single hospital during his 7-year rule. Before forming his government, Kejriwal had promised to add 30,000 new hospital beds

He also took the opportunity to address the issue of oxygen shortage in the Union Territory and asserted that if a person suffers or dies due to oxygen shortage in the Union Territory as well as anywhere else, and efforts should be made by the government to prevent this from happening, but there should be no politics over it. The party, justifying itself, and refuting all the claims of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, asked that if all the other States were being provided oxygen, why would Delhi not be provided?

Delhi HC pulls up AAP

Earlier in the day, while hearing petitions related to the COVID-19 situation, a bench of the Delhi High Court comprising Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rekha Palli pulled up the AAP government for the critical situation in the Union Territory and issued augment over the number of doctors in the wards and fewer advertisements for volunteer doctors. 

Taking cognizance of the fact that there were more wards than doctors, the bench in a stern tone asked the Delhi government," What is the point of wards without doctors?" Directing the government to issue advertisements in all the leading dailies, the bench further said," The government had full-page ads during elections but having only a few ads in small newspapers during a major medical crisis."

The bench while hearing another plea related to black marketing and hoarding in the Union Territory, gave the Central and the State government full liberty to take action. "There is no need to wait for a court order to prevent black marketing and hoarding of medicines and medical equipment."

Delhi's COVID-19 situation

In the last 24 hours, Delhi reported 12,651 new COVID-19 cases, 13,306 recoveries, and 319 fatalities, pushing the total cases to 13,36,218, total recoveries to 12,31,297, and the death toll to 19,663. The active cases stand at 85,258, and with this, the positivity rate stands at 19.10 per cent, which is the lowest since April 16. 

It is pertinent to mention here that since April mid, the Union Territory has been seeing a rise in cases, and that has put a strain on the medical infra and has led to a crunch of medical equipment, which has given rise to hoarding and black marketing of equipment such as oxygen concentrators. Delhi Police which has taken to the job of cracking down such incidents, earlier this week, sealed many locations, including the famous eatery in Khan Market, Khan Chacha.

(Credit-PTI)