Delhi used less than 75% of COVID funds given by Centre: CAG

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| Photo Credit: AP

The Delhi government used less than 75% of the funds released by the Centre to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the capital, according to a Comptroller and Auditor General report on public health infrastructure and management of health services tabled in the Delhi Assembly on Friday (February 28, 2025).

Of the total ₹787.91 crore released by the Union government to help Delhi combat the pandemic, only ₹582.84 crore was actually used in Delhi, the CAG report said.

The CAG also found that only three new hospitals were completed or extended between the period 2016-17 to 2021-22 when the Aam Aadmi Party was in power, adding that all three projects had been started during the previous regime. “There were significant delays of upto six years in their completion as well as increase in final costs from the previously tendered costs,” the report said.

Shortage of staff, beds, medicines

The CAG also highlighted a staff crunch at Delhi government hospitals, and the lack of adequate medicines and equipment. The report said that the bed occupancy rate ranges from 101% to 189% in nine hospitals, and from 109% to 169% in seven other hospitals, indicating that more than one patient was accommodated on single beds. Though the State Budgets for these four years announced a cumulative addition of 32,000 hospital beds, only 4.25% of these beds were actually added, the CAG said.

This is the second of 14 CAG reports relating to the AAP government’s performance scheduled to be tabled in the House. A CAG report on the controversial Delhi liquor policy was tabled in the Assembly last Tuesday and has now been refered to a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the State legislature.

‘BJP diverting attention’

The AAP accused the ruling BJP of diverting attention from its own governance failures by focussing on the record of the previous regime. “After 27 years, the BJP has finally come to power in Delhi. The people are waiting for them to fulfill their promises—₹2,500 per month for women, apparently better infrastructure and improved services. But what is the BJP’s real plan? Not governance, not delivery—just five years of abusing AAP,” the party said in a statement responding to the CAG report. “Their strategy is clear: Divert attention – Instead of working, they will keep attacking AAP to hide their failures and blame AAP. They made big promises, but there’s no concrete plan to implement them,“ the AAP said.

The CAG said that the purpose of the audit was to assess the availability of health infrastructure, manpower, machinery and equipment in health institutions, the adequacy of financial resources allocated, and efficacy in the management of health services in Delhi.

Mohalla clinics record

The report found that the Health and Family Welfare Department was unable to use any of the 15 plots it acquired (between June 2007 and December 2015) at a cost of ₹648 lakh for establishing hospitals and dispensaries, despite having possession for periods ranging between six to 15 years.

Regarding the AAP government’s flagship Mohalla Clinics scheme, the CAG report said that around 70% of the patients visiting Mohalla Clinics between October 2022 and March 2023 spent less than a minute with the doctor. It found that 41 of the 218 Mohalla Clinics in four selected districts of Delhi remained closed for periods ranging from 15 days to nearly two years, due to doctors resigning, leaving, or being on extended leave. It added that against the aim of opening 1,000 Mohalla Clinics by March 31, 2017, only 523 were operational by March 31, 2023.

Manpower shortages

On the staff shortage issue, the report said: “There were shortages in the cadres of doctors (52%), paramedical staff (56%) and nurses (32%) in the four medical colleges with attached hospitals (Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College, BR Sur Homoeopathic Medical College & Research Centre, Nehru Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital and Choudhary Brahm Prakash Ayurvedic Charak Sansthan).

The report highlighted that emergency services at hospitals struggled due to a lack of permanent specialist doctors, along with serious deficiencies in public health services that impact both patients and medical professionals.

“In the test-checked hospitals, the report noted instances where operation theatres were not being utilised due to a shortage of manpower. Moreover, the average waiting time for surgeries in these hospitals ranged from one to 10 months,” the report said.