Kejriwal lays foundation stone for 362-bed trauma centre at Sanjay Gandhi Hospital
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal laid the foundation stone for a 362-bed trauma centre at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital on Sunday. The trauma centre will be equipped with medical facilities like ICU beds, emergency beds, and six operation theatres. The trauma centre is expected to be ready in 18 months.
The CM lauded the city's government hospitals and said, "Despite the massive expansion of public healthcare infrastructure in Delhi, some hospitals do see overcrowding. This is because people from across the country are coming to Delhi now to access our hospitals. Today, someone from Bihar can take a Rs 500 ticket to the capital, get free treatment in our hospitals and return happily. It is a matter of great pride and happiness for us that the people of the entire country are confident in Delhi Government hospitals."
Kejriwal congratulated the Public Works Department (PWD) and Health departments, and said, "Ordinarily large government hospitals across the country are constructed at a cost of Rs 1 crore per bed. This hospital should have cost Rs 362 crore but the Delhi govt is constructing it in just Rs 71 crore. This has been possible because Delhi has an honest and efficient government that saves peoples' tax money and is, therefore, able to provide the best services to all our people."
The standard number of emergency beds in a 300-bed hospital would only be 5-6%, that would mean 15-20 emergency beds in a single hospital. The Delhi government has necessitated that 40% of the bed strength in a hospital should be emergency beds. More than 50% of beds have been reserved as ICU and emergency beds at the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, a report claimed.
Boasting of Delhi's healthcare model, CM Kejriwal said, "We are matching the healthcare standards of Denmark, which is one of the most developed nations in the world. Denmark has universal healthcare coverage for all, every patient, rich or poor, can access free treatments in all the hospitals. We are matching the most progressive societies in the world like Denmark, USA and Japan, in terms of providing quality healthcare to the people."
Tweeting about this, the Delhi CM wrote, "We have saved Rs 290 crore in just one project. If I use this money to make medicines, treatment and tests free for the people of Delhi, is it wrong? The Opposition claims we are wasting money by providing free healthcare to people."
Kejriwal also took the opportunity to hit back at the opponents and said, "They (opposition) believe Delhi will suffer losses with such free provisions, but I want to say that this government will not let Delhi suffer from losses. We have expanded the budget of Delhi year after year, and this is due to the trust that the people of Delhi have shown in us. Before our government came to power, the budget of Delhi was Rs 30,000 crore. Today, after five years, it is Rs 60,000 crore. We stopped the Raid Raj system, and the people of Delhi realized how paying taxes is leading them towards a more developed city. We have eliminated corruption from the capital, and are instead spending the money towards more developmental works in the city, like building schools and hospitals and providing free facilities to the people. We had decreased VAT from 12.5 percent to 5 percent but increased facilities for the welfare of the people."
