Health care in spotlight as CAG flags issues

A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on Delhi's health infrastructure alleged deep-rooted deficiencies in government hospitals, including lack of essential medical services such as ICUs, staff shortages, procurement of medicines from blacklisted firms, and long wait times for tests and surgeries, according to people familiar with the findings of the agency.

- Sanjeev K Jha and Ridhima Gupta

To be sure, the report—Health Infrastructure and Management of Health Services, prepared in 2022, and covering the period between 2016-17 to 2021-2022—is one of the 14 such filings prepared by CAG between 2017 and 2024. However, despite court intervention, it was not tabled in the Delhi assembly along with 13 other CAG reports.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which governed Delhi during the audited period, said that most of the issues raised were not under its purview, and blamed the Centre for the situation.

One glaring issue flagged in the report, according to officials who are privy to CAG's findings, was the lack of life-saving infrastructure across city hospitals. Among other issues, it flagged that several hospitals did not have functioning operation theatres (OTs). It also pointed out that a sizeable proportion of hospitals did not have critical facilities such as Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and oxygen services, and Trauma Services (CATS) ambulances were not found up to the mark.

Further, it flagged that as of March 2022, there was a deficit of about 21% in staff in government hospitals, and stated that the government did not undertake any assessment to identify regions deficient in health care facilities. It also assessed shortage of essential facilities like toilets in Mohalla Clinics.

The AAP, on its part, said that recruitment for health-related services lies "solely" under the lieutenant governor (LG) and the central government, who "deliberately" did not hire staff. It also said that the procurement of medicine was slow because "certain firms were blacklisted based on fabricated documents". The LG office refused to comment on the issue.

Inadequate life-saving services