Amidst the unprecedented increase in active cases of the Wuhan Coronavirus in Delhi, questions are being asked about the inability of the Arvind Kejriwal-led-State Government to control the pandemic in the national Capital. On Monday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain, in a bid to pass on the buck to the Central Government, blamed it for not canceling international flights at the right time.
“Delhi and Mumbai are metropolitan cities. International flights had landed mostly in these two cities. There was no outbreak of Coronavirus in India at that time. If those flights were cancelled on time, the pandemic would not have spread this much,” Satyendra Jain remarked. He conceded that the transmission of the Chinese virus had increased to a large extent in Delhi. Jain highlighted that the daily increase in coronavirus cases in the State stood between 1000 to 1500.
The Delhi Health Minister also added how residents of Delhi need more hospital beds to brazenly justify the government’s contentious decision to bar non-residents of Delhi from availing treatment in private and state-run hospitals. “Our neigbouring states have said they have a few Coronavirus cases. So, what’s the problem (about our decision)?” he enquired.
#WATCH …If Centre would’ve stopped (intn’l) flights in time, situation could’ve been better.Given the cases, hospitals are needed for Delhites.Neighboring states say they have less cases so it shouldn’t be issue: Delhi Health Min on criticism of reserving hospital for residents pic.twitter.com/VIZ94sORBQ
— ANI (@ANI) June 8, 2020
Arvind Kejriwal reserves state-run hospitals for Delhites
Earlier, in a controversial decision, the chief minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal had announced that the Delhi Government hospitals would only treat patients who are residents of Delhi. He added that private hospitals, except those hospitals where special surgeries are performed and are not available in other parts of the country, had also been ordered not to admit patients from other states. Hospitals like AIIMS that come under the central government will function according to the Ministry of Health regulations, and they will admit patients regardless of the residential status.
