In poll season, Congress flags staff shortage at AIIMS, other hospitals

Hitting out at the Centre, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Arvinder Singh Lovely raised concerns over an acute shortage of staff and beds in Central Government-funded hospitals in Delhi, including prestigious institutions like AIIMS, Safdarjung, Ram Manohar Lohia and Willingdon.

According to Lovely, this scarcity was resulting in prolonged waiting time for thousands of patients seeking treatment at these facilities. “When the Congress-led government established major Centrally funded hospitals in the Capital, they were intended to attract the best medical talent and provide top-class diagnostic and treatment facilities to patients from across the country,” Lovely said.

He added: “Sadly, in the past 10 years, the BJP-led government and Delhi MPs have neglected these hospitals, forcing lakhs of people, especially those from neighbouring states, to endure hardship due to bed and staff shortage.” Lovely attributed the deteriorating state of Central hospitals to BJP’s “misplaced” priorities and neglect. He criticised the BJP’s seven Delhi MPs for “inaction” in improving health infrastructure of the city, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It has become a routine exercise for the BJP to change its sitting MPs after every five years during the Lok Sabha elections, as the sitting MPs vanish from their Parliamentary constituencies after getting elected,” he said. This trend, he argued, had contributed to the neglect of crucial issues such as healthcare and infrastructure development in Delhi. Tribune India