Govt Opens 33 Arogya Mandirs

17 Jan Aushadhi Kendras, or medicine centres opened; 1,100 more Arogya Mandirs soon, says CM Gupta

- Alok KN Mishra

NEW DELHI: Chief minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday announced that the Capital will get more than 1,100 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAMs) by March 2026, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government inaugurated 33 AAMs and 17 Jan Aushadhi Kendras (JAKs) across the city in a major push to overhaul Delhi's primary healthcare network.

Speaking at the citywide launch event, Gupta called the rollout a "decisive break" from the Mohalla Clinics model of the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regime, which she said were conducting "fake tests" and were "centres of corruption".

Speaking at Tis Hazari, Gupta said each of Delhi's 70 constituencies will receive 15 AAMs. "The central government sanctioned ₹2,400 crore for these facilities in 2020, but the AAP government blocked their implementation out of political ego. A total of 1,139 Arogya Mandirs have been sanctioned in Delhi, and we have to finish the work by March otherwise the funds will lapse. We have just eight months to execute what should have been done over five years," she said.

Gupta described AAMs as a leap forward from Mohalla Clinics. "These aren't just OPD centres. AAMs will offer comprehensive healthcare under 12 service packages—ranging from maternal and child health to mental healthcare, geriatric support, and management of chronic diseases like TB, leprosy, and diabetes," she said, adding that lab tests, preventive care, and national health programme support will also be available in-house.