The communication between the L-G and the CM has come days after the HC pulled up the government over the issue.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday sought the removal of Health and Finance Secretaries, responding to a letter from Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena who has criticised the Delhi government for the “pathetic state” of hospitals run by it in the national capital.
Mr. Saxena wrote to the Chief Minister on Saturday, three days after the Delhi High Court pulled up the Aam Aadmi Party government over the issue.
The court had taken suo motu cognisance of an incident, in which a man jumped out of a moving police van and died after being denied treatment at four government hospitals, three of them run by the Delhi government.
The L-G said in his letter, “Even as tall claims to the contrary have been made consistently by you and your Ministers, recent media reports highlighting the scathing observations made by the Hon’ble Delhi High Court on the dismal state of affairs in Delhi’s government hospitals have brought to the fore a rot that seems to have become deep-rooted.”
He said the court’s remarks, highlighting inadequate infrastructure, manpower shortages, inefficient patient management, and potential financial mismanagement, paint a deeply troubling picture.
“These issues are not merely administrative oversights. They are direct violations of the Fundamental Duties of the government as well as the Fundamental Right to Health, and cast a long shadow of disrepute on the nation’s capital,” he said.
Replying to it, Mr. Kejriwal said he has asked the Health Minister to submit a report on the issues raised by him.
“However, I wish to state that I have written to you earlier also to replace the Health Secretary, Deepak Kumar, who is not only inefficient but openly defies the oral and written orders of his Minister. How can an elected government function if the senior most bureaucrat in that department refuses to follow orders of his Minister,” the letter read.
“Likewise, the Finance Secretary, Ashish Verma, had in the past stopped the payment for medicines, lab tests, doctors’ salaries, Farishtey Scheme, thus paralysing the entire health system,” the Chief Minister said.
Mr. Kejriwal said he has repeatedly requested the L-G in “personal meetings and in writing” to replace the Finance Secretary as the officer also “openly defies orders of his Finance Minister”.
“In the interest of the people of Delhi, I again urge you to kindly replace them at the earliest,” the Chief Minister said.