"Supply of substandard drugs in hospitals was going on at behest of CM Kejriwal": Delhi BJP

New Delhi [India], January 4 : The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government over the procurement and supply of alleged spurious and non-standard drugs in the government hospitals and mohalla clinics, saying that the alleged scam was being undertaken at the behest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva on Thursday, while speaking to ANI hit out at the Delhi CM and alleged that the latter and the then Health Minister Manish Sisodia and the current, Saurabh Bharadwaj, were aware of the alleged pathology scam.
"It is very regrettable that just 20 days ago, the people of Delhi and the country were shocked by the information about the scam of distribution of fake and substandard medicines in the hospitals of the Delhi government ruled by Arvind Kejriwal. The people of Delhi are ashamed after another pathology test scam worth hundreds of crores by the government's health department has come to light," he said.
The Delhi BJP Chief further said, "What makes the role of Kejriwal government in this pathology scam more clear is that it is in the knowledge of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself, the then Health Minister Manish Sisodia and the current Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj since August 2022, but they remained sitting silently."
He also alleged that the AAP government is taking kickbacks of hundreds of crores of rupees from the party's treasury by giving tests, X-rays etc. to private companies.
"The Kejriwal government's silence despite knowing about the pathology test scam clearly shows that this entire scam happened at the behest of the Chief Minister Kejriwal himself and that is why Kejriwal has given most of the test and X-ray etc. services of not only the Mohalla clinics but also the government hospitals to private companies. It is clear that the Kejriwal government is taking kickback of hundreds of crores of rupees from the Aam Aadmi Party treasury by giving tests, X-rays etc. to private companies, whose CBI is investigating," he added.
He further questioned what could be a bigger proof of the scam than the fact that in 2022 itself, it had come to the notice of the government that hundreds of tests were being registered every month on the same phone number and it was not just that number which was involved in the scam.
Delhi BJP President further claimed that a scam of about Rs 240 crore in the Forest Department of the Delhi Government has come to light and the government is trying to impose it on the officers which is beyond comprehension.
"How is it possible that a scam of Rs 240 crore was going on in the forest department of the Kejriwal government for months and the Chief Minister did not know about it, in this case, the Chief Minister and the Forest Minister should also be linked to the suspects and they should also be investigated," he added.
The Delhi government's Directorate of Vigilance has officially referred the matter to the MHA for investigation. Notably, some samples of an anti-epilepsy drug collected from a Delhi government facility were found spurious as per a report from the Regional Drug Testing Laboratory, Chandigarh.