Swati Maliwal visits hospitals to ‘examine truth’ of Delhi govt's claims

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, who ended her association with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after falling out with AAP chief Kejriwal, is now challenging Delhi government’s claims of setting up ‘world-class healthcare facilities’, The Indian Express reported.

Maliwal, accompanied by a team of ‘volunteers’, visits health facilities to ‘examine the truth’ about the improvements in caregiving.

These visits are similar to the on-the-spot checks that she carried out as the chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women.

The MP earlier lodged a case accusing Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar of ‘assault’, causing a costly controversy for AAP’s Delhi unit.

Recently, one morning at 4.30 am she turned up in front of the Capital’s Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS) as part of her campaign.

At the facility she meets people and asks people about the problems they face at the hospital.

In one instance she asked a woman named Fehmida about how long she had been waiting for medicines.

The woman replied that she had been in the line ‘since yesterday morning’, just as Maliwal’s crew filmed the interaction.

Another person identified as Babli, from Subhanpur, Baghpat told her that ‘I have been here since 5 pm yesterday. For the past eight years, every month, we spend a night here in line’.

Babli added that ‘If we come in the daytime, the medicines are available only in limited quantities, but after queuing up at night, we can ensure we get the needed quantity’.

Summing up the difficulties those queuing up at night face, Maliwal said ‘It must be a real struggle during winters, especially for those who are unwell’.

Another person, Amrita Singh, from Muzaffarnagar who wanted to medicine for depression reportedly said that waiting at shelters outside could lead to missing token.

Shakuntala Devi, a 70-year-old from Seemapuri who is vising the facility for around 15 years as part of her son’s treatment, told Maliwal that nevertheless waiting at the facility in cold or rain, she get only half the prescribed medicines.

Maliwal next visited Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital run by the Delhi government where again she asked people about their difficulties while seeking treatment.

One patient Kulsoom, who has breathing problems, revealed that doctors had given her only paracetamol as there are ‘No other medicines are available. They have said no medicines are being supplied’.

Maliwal told the Indian Express after the visit that the situation at the IHBAS is sadder, adding that ‘despite the government’s claims of world-class infrastructure, people are not receiving medicines’.

Meanwhile, IHBAS Director Rajinder Dhamija claimed that ‘more than 90% of the medicines are currently available’.