A Delhi government-run mohalla clinic at Nizamuddin, in New Delhi,.
Credit: PTI Photo
Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party is once more under the scanner, this time due to Mohalla clinics - their flagship healthcare system in Delhi.
Allegations of 'fake' lab tests have been levied against these neighbourhood clinics that have been set up all over the nation's capital. Now, acting on the recommendation of Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, who has often been at loggerheads with AAP, the Centre has ordered a CBI probe into the allegations against the clinics that are at the very centre of AAP's welfare model.
An enquiry by the Vigilance department has shown that at least seven Mohalla clinics operate dubiously. They get lakhs of tests done on dummy patients, and the payments go to private diagnostic firms.
As per the report, there were 3,092 records of different patients with the same mobile number -- 9999999999 -- while in the case of 999 patients, their mobile numbers were repeated 15 or more times.
Similarly, 11,657 patients patients had the mobile number 'zero' registered against their names while in the case of 8,251 patients, the mobile number column was left blank. As many as 400 patients had a single-digit phone number.
"It is indicative of a scam running in hundreds of crores (of rupees)", an official said.
AAP is already in hot water with the excise policy scam, a matter that both the CBI and ED are probing. Key members of the party, including Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh, have been put behind bars in course of the investigation.
Kejriwal has skipped three ED summons thus far, with the agency having issued a fourth in the matter.
As for the alleged Mohalla scam, it first came about in 2023, when it was found that some doctors and staff of seven Mohalla clinics in southwest, Shahdara and North-East districts resorted to "unethical practice" to fraudulently mark their attendance through pre-recorded videos.
These clinics were in Jaffar Kalan, Ujwa, Shikarpur, Gopal Nagar, Dhansa, Jagjeet Nagar and Bihari Colony.
The official also disclosed that patients at these clinics were provided medical consultation and medicines were disbursed by unauthorised staff in the absence of doctors.
Action was taken against them in September 2023, when these doctors were de-empanelled and had FIRs lodged against them. Following this, a review of the sample lab testing data from July to September 2023 was carried out
The official stated, "It was found that fake or non-existent mobile numbers were used for registration of patients and subsequent lab tests that were supposedly done on them," adding, "Also, there was duplication of mobile numbers. The data has clearly revealed that fake lab tests were carried out at these Mohalla clinics that need to be further inquired."
The AAP and BJP have already been engaged in a war of words over the issue, with BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi saying "The Delhi government had made arrangements for pathological tests at the so-called Mohalla clinics. However, the clinics have come under a cloud of suspicion after the vigilance department reports and department findings came out."
BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi, taking potshots at AAP, said "The Delhi government had made arrangements for pathological tests at the so-called Mohalla clinics. However, the clinics have come under a cloud of suspicion after the vigilance department reports and department findings came out."
The matter is snowballing, with BJP state president Virendraa Sachdeva adding "Whoever went for treatment was sent to a private lab for tests, and all those numbers are fake, the people are fake. There is a scam worth crores of rupees in the Mohalla clinic's pathology reports. One number alone has been used for 100 tests, and some numbers are incomplete."
Saurabh Bharadwaj, Minister of Health in the state, said "The Mohalla clinic is an individual entity and not a massive set-up. We brought in a video application system to record the attendance of the staff. Now some disgraceful doctors took advantage of this. We fired 26 people - seven doctors and their staff who helped them", while Atishi added "Mohalla clinics are a clean and well-maintained setup where medicines are given free to every person. The BJP-led Centre is trying to destroy Delhi's world-class health model. How is it being done? By levelling false allegations and initiating fake inquiries."
There are also reports of sub-standard medicines going to Delhi's state-run hospitals - a matter the CBI will be probing as well, at the Centre's behest.
(With PTI inputs)