In the run-up to Delhi’s Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party yesterday released an advertisement in the form of a video via its Twitter handle in which it was extravagantly claimed that a Washington Post article is seen advising the US administration to learn from Kejriwal’s ‘Mohalla Clinic’ scheme to fix its broken healthcare system.
पहले लोग कहते थे अमरीका से सीखो, अब अमरीका वाले कहते हैं भारत से सीखो, दिल्ली से सीखो, केजरीवाल सरकार से सीखो। pic.twitter.com/HLBIzg2IpC
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) February 6, 2020
The basis of this advertisement is a Washington Post article of 2016 by one Vivek Wadhwa, titled ‘What New Delhi’s free clinics can teach America about fixing its Broken Healthcare System.’ In it, the author goes over the top, heaping praises on what was then perceived as an ambitious and game-changing project. However, 2016 was long ago. And in four years time, the author, Vivek Wadhwa has come to realize that his article was jumping to premature conclusions too soon with regards to the Mohalla Clinics.
The Aam Aadmi Party now finds itself in an embarrassing position, as the author has put forth his disgust at the advertisement. In a tweet, Wadhwa said that he was disgusted by the dishonesty of Delhi Chief Minister’s advertisement, and that his 2016 article has been misrepresented. He also claimed that Delhi’s Health Minister, Satyendra Jain out-rightly lied to him in 2016 about the project.
I am disglusted with the dishonesty of ads by Delhis chief minister @ArvindKejriwal. Misrepresent my @washingtonpost article about @HealthCube360 and make false claims about the Mohalla/Peoples clinics.
I was clearly lied to by his health minister: https://t.co/S3k1InVCcw https://t.co/wmlb1hm6lz
— Vivek Wadhwa (@wadhwa) February 7, 2020
It is rare that I comment on politics, especially Indian. But this was so much over the top that it made me sick. https://t.co/dzvlVgXI9E
— Vivek Wadhwa (@wadhwa) February 7, 2020
Vivek Wadhwa is a ‘Distinguished Fellow’ from Carnegie Mellon University. After 2016, the author has had a change of heart, possibly due to the many faults that have been found with the Mohalla clinic project. Wadhwa also quoted a 2017 DNA article which had stated that the Vigilance Department had unearthed a scam in Mohalla clinics. It was found that doctors were making unusually high incomes and that two patients were being consulted every minute.
This translates to a patient receiving only thirty seconds consultation time with the physicians, which is in gross violation of norms which state that each patient must be given at least 7 to 10 minutes time. This, however, did not prevent the Aam Aadmi Party from manufacturing an advertisement of lies and publishing it through its official Twitter handle. Despite being hammered by the very author who penned the article they flaunt in their advertisement, AAP has not yet had the decency to delete the tweet and apologize for lying to the public.
The AAP has based its entire campaign on the ‘development’ done by them in the past five years, among which, the Mohalla Clinic project is stated by them as the primary success point. Now that their lies have been shattered, how would they defend their dismal performance in providing basic healthcare facilities to the people of Delhi?
