Kejriwal's attempts to gain sympathy will not be successful: Mandaviya

New Delhi [India], March 27 : Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya hit out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying that his attempts to gain sympathy from the people of Delhi by issuing orders from the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) expressing concern about Delhi's health services will not be successful.
"You (Kejriwal) have not fulfilled your responsibilities. You should have taken proper care of your health infrastructure from time to time. Now you are giving directions from jail just to gain sympathy from people. You will not be successful," Mandaviya said, speaking to ANI on Friday.
The Union Minister said that though the Chief Minister has expressed concern about people's health, he has deprived Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries from availing the benefits under the scheme.
"Today he (Arvind Kejriwal) is worrying about the health of people of Delhi, but he has not implemented 'Ayushman Bharat' here. 30 lakh eligible beneficiaries are deprived of its benefits. He should think about it, discuss it in the Assembly," Mandaviya said.
Lashing out at the Delhi Chief Minister for poor medical infrastructure in his state, Mandaviya said, "You should increase the number of beds in the hospital; the immunisation of the children of Delhi isnt sufficient compared to others. The performance of Delhi is very poor in the TB elimination programme, which is underway across India."
Mandaviya said that despite writing several letters to the Delhi government, the Kejriwal government has not turned up to sign the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Prime Minister - Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) for the last one year.
"To increase health infrastructure in Delhi, the Union government has alloted Rs 2400 crore. We have written letters to the Delhi government several times. This is for the people of Delhi, to build critical care unit, laboratory, health infrastructure. In the last one year, you are not coming to do MoU. You should discuss that in Assembly an implement it in your state so that health infrastructure improves in your country," the Union Minister pointed out.
Pointing out the poor state of medical infrastructure in the capital city, Mandaviya said, "For several years, the number of medical colleges have not increased, medical seats have not increased. You should do something on that lines. You do nothing and now you are trying to build sympathy."
Mandaviya even suggested Kejriwal to sign the MoU with PM-ABHIM from jail if he is concerned about Delhi's health.
"If you are so concerned with Delhi's health, you should sign an MoU with Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure from within jail and utilise that money for building your health infrastructure," he said.
Slamming the Aam Aadmi Party, Mandaviya said that Kejriwal should have worked on improving Delhi's health infrastructure in the last 10 years if he was so concerned about its health.
""If you have so much concern for Delhi's health, you should bring good medicines to Mohalla clinics after conducting thorough tests so that people do not get spurious medicines. You have not inproved on your health infrastructure for the last 10 years. And only after getting into ED custody, you are being concerned about Delhi's health. If you had worked for the last 10 years, the health infrastructure and health faclities in Delhi should have increased. You cannot gain sympathy from people being in ED custody," the Union Minister said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Kejriwal on March 21 in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy case linked to a money laundering case. He was on March 22 remanded to custody of the ED for seven days, that is, till March 28.