Govt blames LG for vacancies in Delhi hospitals; VK Saxena hits back
Health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj blamed lieutenant governor Vinai Kumar Saxena for not initiating the hiring process through the services department.
Healtth minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Sunday said that the Delhi government hospitals and dispensaries were facing an acute shortage of doctors and healthcare workers, impacting the healthcare services even as he blamed lieutenant governor VK Saxena for not initiating the hiring process through the services department.
Bharadwaj alleged that he wrote to the LG multiple times flagging the scarcity of doctors in government-run hospitals, but no action has been taken. He also released a series of five letters to Saxena and senior bureaucrats from April 2023 regarding the matter. The letters were dated April 19 and June 6 in 2023 and January 2, June 25 and July 27, in 2024.
In the final letter, the minister said that since the services department comes directly under the LG, the hiring should be expedited.
Meanwhile, the LG office responded to Bharadwaj’s statement and said that all services matter, including appointments, postings, transfers and disciplinary actions, are decided National Capital Civic Services Authority (NCCSA), which is headed by chief minister and put up to LG for approval, adding that the CM has “not convened a meeting of the NCCSA in a long time”.
“I wrote the first letter to the LG informing him that there was a shortage of 292 general medical duty officers (GDMOs), and 234 specialists and appealed to fill these vacancies as soon as possible. No action was taken, rather the doctors holding high positions in government hospitals through Central Health Services (CHS) were also recalled by the central government,” he alleged.
In July, the Delhi high court directed the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) to speed up the process of filling staff vacancies in state-run hospitals, observing that the shortage of manpower was “serious”.
“Even when CM Arvind Kejriwal was out on bail and authorised by the Supreme Court to conduct the meeting, he did not do it. Bharadwaj should have taken up these matters with his superior, rather than writing fig leaf alibis to the LG,” the LG office said.
The matter refuelled the long-standing dispute on control of the services department in Delhi.
NCCSA, headed by the CM, comprises the chief secretary and the principal secretary (home) and has powers to take decisions by a simple majority of two members. The decisions are then referred to lieutenant governor who can either return, approve or overrule them.
Blame game continues over Ghazipur deaths
Over four days after a 23-year-old woman and her three-year-old son died after they fell into a drain near Ghazipur in east Delhi, the civic agencies in Delhi continued to trade charges over the responsibility and jurisdiction of the site of accident.
The Delhi Development Authority in an official statement on Sunday said that the allegation by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi that the site of incident belongs to DDA was “wrong and a blatant attempt to shift responsibility.” “The document being circulated is an internal MCD paper which has not been seen/signed by any official of DDA.
Delhi minister Gopal Rai had said that MCD report found the drain belonged to DDA. “LG should immediately take action against DDA whose negligence has led to this death,” he had said.
DDA added the open drain falls under the MCD. “The jurisdiction of DDA’s 350-meter portion is fully covered,” it added. HT reached out to the MCD which did not respond to queries seeking comments.