Delhi polls: Congress promises Rs 25 lakh health insurance for all
New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA):- Former Delhi Health Minister, Dr Narendra Nath said on Thursday that Delhi Congress’ Rs 25 lakh ‘Jeevan Raksha Yojana’, universal health scheme, will provide free health insurance to all Delhi residents, under the party’s ‘right to health’ scheme.
The senior Delhi Congress leader said the health insurance being promised by the party will not be like AAP National Convenor Arvind Kerjiwal’s 70 promises, which he has not fulfilled till date despite enjoying power for 10 years.
Dr. Nath said that the Congress will implement all its promises as soon as it comes to power.
He said the AAP government’s ‘Mohalla Clinics’, built on pavements, were without medicines, doctors, staff and equipment, and yet, Kejriwal takes credit for the so-called “Delhi model” of healthcare.
The Delhi Congress leader said that the dilapidated state of government hospitals in the city has forced the High Court to take cognisance and set up a committee to monitor the deteriorating condition of government hospitals, which nails Kejriwal’s lies.
Addressing a press conference at the DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan, Dr. Nath said that the Congress’ health insurance scheme was badly needed as Delhi had become a ‘gas chamber’.
He said that the Congress government had provided 48,000 hospital beds, established 16 medical colleges, seven big speciality hospitals, and there were a total of 95 major hospitals in the city during its rule, but the Kejriwal government devastated the health sector.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the common people were put on ventilators due to shortage of medical oxygen, beds, medicines and ambulances, he said.
The former Delhi health minister said that innocents died without getting timely medical care from the raging pandemic while Kejriwal stayed put in his ‘Sheesh Mahal’ – the renovated Chief Minister’s residence.
Dr. Nath said that the Congress government in Rajasthan, headed by Ashok Gehlot, was the first to implement the Rs 25 lakh universal healthcare scheme which benefited the entire population of the state without any discrimination.
He said that like in Rajasthan, the ‘Jeevan Raksha Yojana’ in Delhi will cover government and private hospitals, for residents from birth to death.
