Recently, The Delhi High Court remarks the Delhi government for not using its Mohalla clinic to increase the facilities for Covid-19 patients, the Delhi high court state “It’s a waste of resources if they are not being used”. This comes after the Delhi government's senior advocate Rahul Mehra said the Mohalla clinics cannot be used as they have very small facilities. During this pandemic time when we got a shortage of everything like ICU beds, hospital beds, medicines, oxygen, etc. or we can also say that our healthcare infrastructure collapsed, and as of 2020 there are 450 Mohalla clinics have been set up across Delhi but none of them can be used for covid-19 patients or even for vaccination. That's why the Delhi high court pulled up the Delhi government on this, but the Delhi government already told that mohalla clinics are not capable of handling serious patients. First of all, in case you don’t know, what is Mohalla Clinic? So, let me explain to you all about Mohalla clinic.
Aam Aadmi Party or the Government of Delhi started to set up the Aam Aadmi Mohalla clinic also known as Mohalla clinic in 2015, the word “Mohalla” means “Neighbourhood”, as of 2020 across the Delhi 450 Mohalla clinics have already been set up and served more than 16.24 million residents. The idea behind this was, In India, more than 65 percent of people have been paying for health from their pocket and only 17 percent of people have health insurance, according to the world health organization data in 2015-17. So, the initiative of Mohalla clinic is to give free health services and consultancy to reduce the financial burden on low-income families. In every Mohalla clinic, there is one doctor and a nurse appointed to see patients. In Mohalla clinics, there are not all facilities available, these clinics do not provide complete antenatal care as ultrasound test are not permitted here and neither immunization services, as Chandrakant Lahariya explained “Providing vaccines at Mohalla clinic on daily basis would not be possible because vaccine vials need proper storage and refrigeration”, but the Delhi government stated that the government is planning to provide more services in the Mohalla clinic including immunization.
A bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli remarked “What is the use of Mohalla Clinics if it can’t be used in this pandemic, it was the best time for the use of these Mohalla clinics”, The Delhi high court also stated that there are total of 450 doctors as well as 450 Mohalla clinics which can be used in this pandemic to help the Covid-19 Patients then why is the Delhi government not using these Mohalla clinics, after this remarked from Delhi high court, a senior advocate of Delhi Government, Rahul Mehra said he would give all the information related to this soon. Mehra also stated “Mohalla clinic is just a 20-feet container with the facilities of 2 small rooms, this has not meant to be used in crises like Covid-19, it has not enough space, as it can be a super spreader, then who will take responsibility?” after this response from the Delhi government, the bench said “You can shift your Mohalla clinics to the other location as government schools are closed. You have 450 doctors and we need them” after the statement from the bench on doctors of Mohalla clinics, Rahul Mehra informed the bench that these doctors have always given their best and still they are not sitting at home. These are some statements made by the Delhi high court and the Delhi Government for not using Mohalla clinics in this Pandemic situation.
The Delhi high court’s statement seems to be valid, as we all know that, In this Covid-19 Pandemic how much system has lacked the arrangements, in this chaotic situation when people are suffering due to lack of essential medical services, Mohalla clinics could have become a better means of help, as there are 450 Mohalla clinics across the city, it could be helpful at least for their locality people who have been suffered in this terrible pandemic. As the Delhi government mentioned that Mohalla clinics are not meant to be used for this type of frightening disaster but they should have been prepared after the first wave of Corona and should have upgraded these Mohalla clinics to help people comfortably, and if they can’t use all Mohalla clinics for any reason then they should have been used at least 50 percent of these.
No one was ready for this Pandemic, but the government has the power to upgrade their infrastructure according to the situation that’s why we always want to choose a good government that can improve things according to the situation. We can understand that the Coronavirus first wave was unpredictable and we were not prepared at all for this type of situation but, what about the second wave? Isn’t it count as a failure of the system? Mohalla clinic has not been used for the treatment of the Covid-19 patients as there could be many valid reasons behind that but, can’t it be used to make the vaccination process better and easy? It can be a good location for the local people who can easily get vaccinated by just a walk to the neighbourhood.
And if Mohalla clinic is not even capable to do the vaccination process, then at least this can be used as a medium to spread awareness to get vaccinated. Like we all know-how much rumours are spreading about vaccination, it can be used to spread awareness in its locality and even can help those people who don’t know anything about technology and have no idea how to book slots or appointments for vaccination, Mohalla clinic could be a medium for helping them or even to book slots for them, there is no sense in not using these Mohalla clinics in this Pandemic, keeping locked them is like wasting of resources that we have like the Delhi high court mentioned: “Mohalla clinics a waste if not used during pandemic”.
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