During a discussion on the CAG report on healthcare services in the Delhi Assembly on Monday, senior AAP leader and MLA Gopal Rai stated that even the CAG report acknowledges that, among all state healthcare models in India, Delhi’s healthcare system ranked first. He said that the AAP government took significant steps to provide quality healthcare to Delhiites, introducing Mohalla Clinics for the first time in the country.
Gopal Rai emphasized that while the Supreme Court had ruled that all powers, except land, public order, and police, belonged to the elected Delhi government, the BJP-led central government overturned this ruling through an ordinance and enacted a law barring Delhi’s government from recruiting healthcare staff.
In the Assembly session, senior AAP leader and MLA Gopal Rai stated that the House has been discussing the CAG report for several days. The CAG report on healthcare services presented in the House primarily consists of three parts. “The first part discusses the positive impact of healthcare services in the NCR on the people of Delhi. The second part highlights how vacancies in various hospitals were not filled, which affected the availability of healthcare services for Delhi’s residents. The third part covers the status of the expansion of new hospitals and beds in Delhi up to the year 2022,” he highlighted.
Gopal Rai praised the AAP government’s work in healthcare, pointing out that while several state governments have been in power for decades, Delhi’s public healthcare system still ranks highest in the country. The CAG report explicitly confirms this in its first section. On the issue of recruitment shortages, he explained that the AAP government made every effort to improve healthcare services.
“It was due to this commitment that India’s first Mohalla Clinics were established in Delhi. He detailed how the government struggled to recruit even a single data entry operator for hospitals due to the Centre’s interference,” he added.
Gopal Rai further elaborated that when the Lieutenant Governor blocked recruitment efforts, the AAP government took the matter to the Supreme Court. “The case dragged on for two years, during which the court formed a five-judge constitution bench. The bench ruled that all matters except land, public order, and police fell under the Delhi government’s jurisdiction,” he pointed out.
The AAP MLA said that instead of respecting the court’s decision, the BJP-led central government resorted to issuing an ordinance to strip Delhi’s elected government of its recruitment powers. This was an unprecedented move in Indian history—never before had a government overturned a constitutional bench ruling through an ordinance. The Centre enacted a new law that prevented the Delhi government from hiring essential staff.
Gopal Rai held the BJP-led central government responsible for the staff shortages in hospitals mentioned in the CAG report. He demanded an explanation for why the elected government was stripped of its rights. He also pointed out that, since 2022, the AAP government had continued working on expanding hospitals despite the Centre’s obstruction.
MLA Sanjeev Jha criticized the BJP’s governance model, noting that in Gujarat, the CAG report had not been presented for four consecutive years. If withholding the report is a crime, then the same crime was committed in Gujarat. The CAG report clearly exposes that Delhi’s healthcare system was the best in India.
Sanjeev Jha further added that Delhi’s healthcare model is the only one being compared to others across the country. AAP studied CAG reports and healthcare indicators from 21 states, finding that Delhi was the only state that met 22 out of 24 health indicators. In contrast, no other state’s healthcare system met even 50% of these indicators. Jha asserted that the CAG report serves as solid proof that Arvind Kejriwal’s government provided the best healthcare services.
Sanjeev Jha also called out BJP’s election propaganda. During the campaign, BJP claimed that Mohalla Clinics did not exist, alleging that cows and buffaloes roamed in their place. However, the CAG report confirms that there were 552 functioning Mohalla Clinics in Delhi. The AAP government built a four-tier healthcare system, comprising primary Mohalla Clinics, Polyclinics, and Super Speciality hospitals, with a referral system in place.
“While there may have been some issues in implementation, BJP cannot ignore the fact that states like Madhya Pradesh lack specialist doctors in 99% of their hospitals, and in seven states, district hospitals do not even have testing centers. Despite this, BJP continues to attack AAP while ignoring its own failures,” said Sanjeev Jha.
He slammed the BJP government for engaging in a smear campaign against AAP instead of addressing real healthcare concerns. He challenged the ruling party to explain how they would address the shortcomings mentioned in the CAG report. He pointed out that, despite an ongoing discussion on the healthcare system in the Assembly, the Health Minister was absent. He demanded that CM Rekha Gupta clarify whether she would fix the issues highlighted by the CAG within six months.
MLA Ajay Dutt pointed out that the truth is hard to digest for many, but facts cannot be ignored. The reality is that Mohalla Clinics were established and provided free treatment to millions. The truth is that Delhi’s healthcare system improved under AAP. When COVID-19 struck, states governed by BJP—such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana—saw mass casualties, with corpses floating in rivers. Even the quality of COVID-19 vaccine doses distributed in BJP-ruled states remains questionable. Dutt criticized BJP for prioritizing renaming initiatives over real governance, asking what the party actually plans to achieve.
Ajay Dutt emphasized that the CAG report explicitly ranks Delhi’s healthcare system as the best in India. The BJP-led central government, however, systematically obstructed its progress by stripping Delhi of its control over public services. “He revealed that thousands of recruitment requests were blocked as part of a conspiracy to undermine Mohalla Clinics and hospitals. The BJP government, through the Centre and LG, deliberately prevented the appointment of doctors, halted blood test funds, and even withheld salaries of medical staff,” he concluded.
