Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday levelled corruption charges against the BJP-led municipal corporation. Jain also claimed that the municipal corporation authorities were unable to run the city’s government hospitals in an efficient manner. No response was available from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The health minister, had on Monday asked his department to issue letters to all three MCDs, asking them to clear the dues of healthcare workers and supporting staff at north Delhi's Hindu Rao Hospital and Kasturba Hospital. Jain demanded that if the dues of the healthcare workers weren’t cleared, the abovementioned hospitals should be handed over to the Delhi administration. Doctors at these hospitals have claimed that they have not received their salaries for the past few months.
"The Delhi government has given the MCDs their share of funds. They collect multiple taxes, but all the money goes into their personal pockets. There is large scale corruption in MCDs which is why they are unable to run their hospitals in a proper manner," Jain alleged. The health minister also added that he has already asked the MCDs to hand over these facilities to the Delhi government.
The health minister also urged everyone to take necessary precautions during the festive season and reiterated the importance of wearing masks. An expert group, headed by Dr. VK Paul of NITI Aayog, had recently advised the Delhi government to prepare for a surge of 15,000 COVID-19 cases per day. In its report, it suggested that winter months make respiratory illnesses more severe, and festival-related gatherings could lead to sudden rise in cases and warned that patients from outside Delhi might also arrive in large numbers to the city.
Satyendar Jain also said that the number of new COVID-19 cases in the city has remained below the 3,000-mark for 11 consecutive days. On Monday, Delhi's cumulative COVID-19 count rose to 3.11 lakh with authorities reporting 1,849 new cases, while 40 fatalities took the death toll to 5,809.
