The Union home ministry on Friday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to inquire into the alleged corruption in the Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics operated by the Delhi government, NDTV reported.
This came a day after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena sought an inquiry by the central agency into the alleged fake laboratory tests at the clinics.
The lieutenant governor’s office had alleged that the Mohalla clinics conducted lakhs of fake pathology and radiology tests on non-existent patients. The payments for these tests were made to private laboratories in the name of referrals as part of the alleged scam, Saxena alleged.
Mohalla clinics are one of the healthcare initiatives of the Aam Aadmi Party government in the national capital. There are 533 Mohalla clinics that comprise a doctor and paramedical staff and provide free health checkups and medicines.
Since January 2023, the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi has been providing 450 types of medical tests for free to poor patients at these clinics.
On Friday, the Aam Aadmi Party said that the investigation into the Mohalla clinics is a conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre to stop accessible healthcare for the poor.
“They are trying to stop healthcare services for the poor by making false allegations against the Delhi government and ordering fake investigations,” party leader and Delhi minister Atishi said at a press conference. “Every day new allegations are being made against the Delhi government’s health department.”
Atishi said that the Aam Aadmi Party has always cooperated with such investigations. However, the motive behind the investigations is not to find any corruption, she said.
“These investigations are being ordered to intimidate health department officers and doctors from executing their duties,” Atishi said. “It is being done to scare doctors from recommending medical tests, health department officers from buying medicines.”
The lieutenant governor’s office sought the inquiry after the vigilance and the state health department looked into the laboratory investigations that had been outsourced to private diagnostic companies, reported The Indian Express. The inquiry found that fake, duplicate and non-existent mobile numbers had been used to register patients for laboratory tests.
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