AAP promised it'd add 30,000 hospital beds, managed just 394: BJP think tank

Before the 2015 Delhi election, the Aam Aadmi Party had promised it would add 30,000 beds in city government hospitals if elected, but it could manage just 394, a report by a BJP think-tank claimed on Wednesday.

Prepared by the Public Policy Research Centre (PPRC), the report -- 'Delhi: A City on Ventilator' -- was released by BJP vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and PPRC director in presence of party MPs Ramesh Bidhuri and Meenakshi Lekhi.

The report, based on RTI queries and field visits of hospitals and other health infrastructure of Delhi government, also listed "shortcomings" in Mohalla Clinic network, a pet project of the AAP government.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia did not comment on PPRC report when asked for his reaction. However, the AAP in the past has trashed PPRC reports, saying it was a partisan body.

"Healthcare in Delhi has been one of the main planks of AAP government's publicity. In this background, it is pertinent that the government is held accountable for the steps that it claims to have undertaken for bettering healthcare services in its hospitals," said Sumit Bhasin, another PPRC director.

"Far from tripling hospital beds to 30,000, the Kejriwal government could add a mere 394 beds in five years. It stands exposed on this front since it could add only 7 beds every month for the first 56 months of its rule," Bidhuri said, pointing out the findings in the report.

Speaking on the performance of Mohalla Clinics, Sahasrabuddhe said they do not match the standards of a primary healthcare centre and are more like health sub-centres.

Lekhi pointed that the AAP government in its five-year tenure has been pulled up multiple times by the Delhi High Court over its inability to meet the growing healthcare demands of people in the city.