As the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) submitted its probe findings after a preliminary inquiry into the alleged fake lab tests done on ghost patients at Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics,the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla has termed the Aam Aadmi Party and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal as uncrowned kings of corruption in Delhi.
“It is rightly said that Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party are the uncrowned kings of corruption in Delhi because there is no department that has not been cheated by Kejriwal and Company,” said Poonawalla.
“Not only liquor scam but these people have done scams in medicine and also in lab testing in the name of Mohalla Clinic. Be it education, liquor, medicine, tests, or the bus, if anyone has set a record of corruption everywhere, it is the Aam Aadmi Party, and now it has come out in front, according to media reports, that most of the lab tests done in Mohalla clinics were done on ghost beneficiaries, meaning that those beneficiaries were not the people who took the lab tests. Thousands of their mobile phone numbers were zero, 9999 or 1 2 3 4 5, meaning all of them were fake beneficiaries,” he said.
“These people used to call this mohalla clinic world-class, but it turned out to be third-class, but now instead of answering the questions raised on corruption, what will happen? Victim card will be played, drama will be staged, and protests will be held but they will not answer the scams. There is no answer to anything because now they are not in the company of Anna Hazare but Lalu Prasad Yadav who is convicted and corrupt,” he added.
According to the information provided by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the preliminary inquiry has revealed that during the period from February 2023 to December 2023, nearly 22 lakh tests were conducted by the two private labs for which they were paid Rs 4.63 crore by the Delhi government. Out of this, more than 65,000 tests were found to be fake or manipulated.
The ACB further alleged that the cost of conducting each of these tests varied from Rs 100 to Rs 300. On further probe with random people whose mobile numbers were picked up during investigations, it came out that an overwhelming 63 per cent had neither got any test done nor visited any Mohalla Clinic ever.
Earlier this month, the Arvind Kejriwal government in New Delhi said that senior officials in the Health Department were responsible for monitoring diagnostic labs and that these officials had been appointed by the centre.
The assertion by the Delhi government followed allegations of a scam having emerged in pathology and radiology tests conducted in Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic (AAMC).
The Delhi unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government over the procurement and supply of alleged spurious and non-standard drugs in the government hospitals and mohalla clinics, saying that the alleged scam was being undertaken at the behest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva earlier hit out at the Delhi CM and alleged that the then Health Minister Manish Sisodia and the current, Saurabh Bharadwaj, were aware of the alleged pathology scam.
“It is very regrettable that just 20 days ago, the people of Delhi and the country were shocked by the information about the scam of distribution of fake and substandard medicines in the hospitals of the Delhi government ruled by Arvind Kejriwal. The people of Delhi are ashamed after another pathology test scam worth hundreds of crores by the government’s health department has come to light,” he said.
Earlier, Delhi LG VK Saxena recommended a CBI inquiry into the alleged ‘fake lab tests’ in Aam Aadmi Mohalla clinics. Fake or non-existent mobile numbers were used to mark the entry of patients. The lab inquiry file said that lab tests were ordered or done in the aforesaid 7 AAMCs since February 2023, while the attendance of MOICS was marked through pre-recorded videos.
“In One Lab data, mobile number 9999999999 has been entered 3092 times for different patients between July and September 2023. Similarly, mobile number 9810467129 and mobile number 9855544543 have been entered 185 times and 165 times, respectively, for different patients between July and September 2023, which needs to be clarified from Concerned MOICS,” the lab inquiry report said.
Similarly, in another lab, the mobile number ‘0’ was entered 11657 times and blank was entered 8199 times from July to September 2023 for different patients, which also needs to be clarified by concerned MOICS, it added.
(with inputs from ANI)
