Delhi CM Rekha Gupta said Delhi’s healthcare sector is undergoing “major transformations” and on the way to becoming a “world-class medical hub for people from India and abroad”. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Seven under-construction ICU hospitals, commissioned by the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government during the pandemic, will be turned into super-speciality medical facilities, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Monday. She added that each facility will be equipped to treat cases of a specific nature, such as cancer, high-risk deliveries, and transplants, which require advanced medical expertise.
Ms. Gupta said Delhi’s healthcare sector is undergoing “major transformations” and on the way to becoming a “world-class medical hub for people from India and abroad”.
Speaking at the inauguration of a private hospital in north Delhi’s Model Town, the CM said, “By developing the seven hospitals into super-speciality medical facilities, we are ensuring that not a single rupee spent by the government goes to waste.”
Ms. Gupta said during the pandemic, when AAP was in power, the “scarcity of hospital beds led to loss of lives”. “At one point in Delhi, the city had only 0.42 hospital beds per 1,000 citizens and just six MRI machines and 12 CT scan machines, which is unimaginable for a city of this scale,” she said.
Security for devotees
The CM also said the government will ensure a “secure and comfortable” Kanwar Yatra for devotees and that the police will take strict action against those found creating obstacles for pilgrims. Her comments come a day after the police detained an e-rickshaw driver following the discovery of glass shards on a road along the pilgrimage route in north-east Delhi’s Shahdara, raising concerns over the safety of the pilgrims walking barefoot.
Mired in controversies
The previous AAP government had announced the construction of the seven “makeshift ICU hospitals” in September 2021 to create 6,800 beds in the Capital over six months. Two of these were to be set up near existing medical facilities — Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya and GTB Hospital — and the remaining in Sarita Vihar, Raghubir Nagar, Shalimar Bagh, Kirari, and Sultanpuri.
In 2022, Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena had ordered a probe into allegations of irregularities in awarding tenders for the project.
On June 26 this year, the Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch registered an FIR against AAP leaders and former Health Ministers Satyendar Jain and Saurabh Bharadwaj over “irregularities” in the project. The agency alleged that the “₹1,125-crore ICU Hospital Project remains only 50% complete after nearly three years and expenditure of ₹800 crore despite an initial six-month completion timeline”. In response, AAP had dared the Delhi government to make the details of the case public.
Published – July 15, 2025 04:04 am IST
