Karnataka Health Minister praises Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics, changes stance after receiving mysterious phone call: AAP sources

New Delhi [India], August 5 (ANI): Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao praised Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics during a visit, but changed his stance after receiving a mysterious phone call, said AAP sources on Friday.

Health Minister of Karnataka Dinesh Gundu Rao paid a visit to Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic in Panchsheel Park. During a media conversation, he initially praised the Mohalla Clinic. He toured the Mohalla Clinic with Delhi’s Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP sources said.

The Health Minister of Karnataka said that he wanted to see how the Delhi government was implementing its health policies. He observed that the Mohalla Clinic was functioning effectively. Mohalla Clinics have been operational for the last six-seven years, and people have appreciated their services, he said.

As per AAP sources, the Karnataka Health Minister mentioned that he learned many things during this visit and planned to visit clinics in Karnataka to improve their systems. Health is a crucial sector, and learning from each other is necessary for all, he said as per AAP sources.

However, AAP sources said that later Dinesh Gundu Rao received a phone call following which he mentioned an important meeting and left the location.

A while later, he tweeted criticising the Mohalla Clinic. However, only Dinesh Rao can clarify why his statement changed from praising the Mohalla Clinic to criticising it after the phone call, AAP sources said.

In his tweet, he claimed that Namma Clinic in Karnataka had better infrastructure than Mohalla Clinic. To verify this claim, Aam Aadmi Party’s Karnataka team visited a Namma Clinic in his constituency.

The AAP Karnataka team stated that they visited the Namma Clinic in Dinesh Gundu Rao’s constituency of Gandhi Nagar. They found that both Namma Clinic and Primary Health Center were located adjacent to each other, AAP sources said.

People mentioned that the Primary Health Center had been closed for a long time, AAP sources said. Namma Clinic, in reality, is just a name, they said. It was initiated by the BJP government. The clinic provides only primary treatment for some illnesses like fever, AAP sources said adding that patients are referred to other hospitals, including Kesi General Hospital, from there, they said.

Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics are well-equipped, and treatment is provided free of cost. Numerous tests are conducted free of charge in Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics. MBBS doctors are present in Mohalla Clinics, providing medicines for various illnesses, AAP sources said. Delhi’s Mohalla Clinics have world-class facilities.

According to the Aam Aadmi Party, it’s unfortunate that Karnataka’s Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao visited Delhi’s Mohalla Clinic and observed its world-class facilities and subsequently, he tweeted praising Namma Clinic as better than Mohalla Clinic.

Namma Clinic has hygiene issues, while the operations of Mohalla Clinics are monitored by a private agency, AAP sources said. The claim made by the Health Minister that Namma Clinic’s infrastructure is superior to Mohalla Clinic is false, they said adding that Namma Clinic lacks good facilities.