CBI To Probe Fraud Allegations In AAP’s Mohalla Clinics In Delhi

The Home Ministry has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into alleged corruption in the functioning of Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics, the flagship healthcare project of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Yesterday, the Delhi Lieutenant Governor had asked the CBI to investigate corruption allegations in diagnostic tests done at Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics, sources have said.

The Mohalla Clinics allegedly ran fake radiology and pathology tests without any patients, sources said.

Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had also flagged the matter on September 20, following which seven doctors posted at Mohalla Clinics were removed. Some doctors would come to the clinics very late and still mark full attendance, while others would bunk the whole day.

The Delhi government is likely to remove the health secretary, sources said.

Just days ago, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had ordered another probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into alleged supply of substandard medicines to Delhi government hospitals.

In the Mohalla Clinic case, initial investigation found that doctors who had not been coming to the clinics had been marked as present. The clinics continued to prescribe diagnostic tests for patients who did not exist, sources said.

The Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic infrastructure was conceptualised as a mechanism to provide primary healthcare accessible to communities in Delhi at their doorstep.

These hyperlocal clinics cater to the needs of not only the population of Delhi but also migratory and floating population from neighbouring states, which makes for a considerable patient load. There are also many areas, particularly slums, where the poor do not get easily get primary healthcare.