Health dept among poor performers in Delhi Outcome Budget

With 54 per cent indicators on track, health, a focus area of the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation, was one of the poor performers among key Delhi government departments, according to 2022-23 Outcome Budget data.The report was tabled in the Delhi assembly on Monday by Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot.

With 54 per cent indicators ''on track'', health, a focus area of the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation, was one of the poor performers among key Delhi government departments, according to 2022-23 Outcome Budget data.

The report was tabled in the Delhi assembly on Monday by Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot. The focus areas of the Kejriwal government include health, education, public works and transport, and officials have said the 2023-24 Budget to be presented in the assembly on Tuesday is expected to have significant outlays for these sectors. The Outcome Budget said that out of 124 critical indicators of the health and family welfare department, 54 per cent were ''on track''. As for poor performers, 53 per cent out of 19 indicators for assessment were on track for the urban development and housing sector, while only 47 per cent out of 57 indicators were on track for the power department. Out of 78 indicators for assessment, 67 per cent were on track for the education department, while 68 per cent out of 37 critical indicators of the Public Works Department were doing fine, it showed.

For the transport department, out of the 78 indicators for assessment, 69 per cent were on track, the Outcome Budget said. The Outcome Budget was introduced in 2017-18 as a tool linking the budget with outcomes to capture the progress of various schemes, programmes and projects; and final deliverables from the citizens' perspective. The health minister, Manish Sisodia, resigned last month after being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Delhi excise policy scam case. He had taken over the portfolio from Satyendar Jain, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on money laundering charges in May last year. Jain, who was a minister without any portfolios, resigned along with Sisodia. The current health minister of Delhi is Saurabh Bharadwaj. In the health sector, the Outcome Budget said against a target of 1,000 Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics (AAMCs), 518 have become operational during the nine-month period ending December 31, 2022. A total of 1.5 crore patients were treated at these clinics, it said.

Mohalla clinics are one of the flagship initiatives of the Kejriwal government to boost the primary healthcare system in Delhi.

On an average, each AAMC handles 98 patient visits a day and together approximately 51,000 patients a day, according to the Outcome Budget.

''Against the target of 1,000 Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics, 518 Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics have become operational during the nine-month period ending 31st December, 2022, treating a total of 1.5 crore patients,'' it said.

It said 97 per cent eligible people were administered the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 24 per cent eligible people the booster dose till December last year.

Hundred per cent eligible children in the age group of 12-18 years were administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine till December last year, it said.

The Outcome Budget said 1.68 lakh institutional deliveries were facilitated through ASHA workers till December last year against the annual target of 2.25 lakh institutional deliveries. It said 57,790 patients suffering from tuberculosis were put on treatment as against 77,124 notified patients till December 2022.

The drug control department inspected about 3,320 sales firms and ''667 licences were suspended/ cancelled till December, 2022, those were found violating the norms'', it added.

On an average, 62,906 patients in IPD and 99,382 patients in OPD availed health care services at 38 Delhi government hospitals daily, the Outcome Budget for 2022-23 said and added that 7,85,914 people have undertaken test for HIV at Integrated Counselling and Testing Centers (ICTCs) till December last year. Besides, 82 per cent patients living with HIV/affected family have received financial assistance from the Delhi government till December 2022 under the scheme of financial assistance to affected or infected AIDS/HIV persons and orphan children of the Delhi State AIDS Control Society, it said.

The Outcome Budget said 2,414 people received cash less treatment (accident, acid attack, thermal burn and injury) from private hospitals and 62,849 radiological tests were recommended at private centres under reimbursement of the 'Delhi Arogya Kosh' (DAK) scheme till December 2022.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)