LG junks govt order on hospitals; creates problem for Delhiites, says Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: A day after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that all private hospitals, except the super-specialty ones, and state-run hospitals in the national capital will be reserved for “bona fide” residents of Delhi, lieutenant governor Anil Baijal reversed the order.

Exercising his powers as chairperson of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority under Section 18(3) of the Disaster Management Act, Baijal issued an order on Monday saying that no patient shall be denied treatment for not being a resident of the national capital.

The CM said this would create a huge problem for Delhi residents but seemed resigned to the situation. In a separate order, the LG also made it mandatory for the state authorities to follow the testing strategy laid down by the ICMR “without any deviation”, which includes testing of all asymptomatic persons who came in direct contact with a confirmed case.

The Delhi government had last week released its own Covid-19 testing strategy, omitting the testing of asymptomatic per sons who have been in contact with a confirmed case. The LG, who is the Centre’s appointee, and the Kejriwal