'Made Country's Health System Sick': Kharge, Yadav's Spat With Centre Over AIIMS

Kharge launched a scathing attack against PM Modi, alleging that his govt “has made the healthcare system sick.”

Image used for representation.

(Photo: Garima Sadhwani/FIT)

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday, 13 August, launched a scathing attack at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that his government “has made the country’s healthcare system sick.”

Kharge's tweets come after reports suggested a 40 percent vacancy of doctors across the 19 AIIMS in the country.

The counter: Hitting back at Kharge, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya claimed that while only one AIIMS was built during the Congress rule, six were built during the Vajpayee government, and 15 during the Modi government.  

"It is expected that you will also try to understand that according to the requirement of AIIMS, phase wise recruitment is being done from time to time, when new departments are opened. PM Modi has distributed more than 5 lakh appointment letters to the youth of the country under the Rojgar Mela."

Mansukh Mandaviya

The bigger context: This comes a day after Mandaviya got into a spat with Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, on social media, over the construction of the proposed AIIMS in Darbhanga.

What was said: “Today the Prime Minister was taking false credit for opening AIIMS in Darbhanga. The fact is that #Bihar the government has given free 151 acres of land to the center for its establishment and also allocated more than 250 crores for land filling but unfortunately, doing politics, the center did not approve the construction of the proposed AIIMS. The country at least expects truth and facts from the Prime Minister but he told a blatant lie,” Yadav posted on X on Saturday:

Yadav went on to add that in June, he spoke with the union health minister, urging him to approve the construction, but received no positive response.

 Mandaviya’s response: Replying to the deputy CM, Mandaviya also took to X.

“Dear Tejashwi ji, Modi government does not do politics in development but does politics of development. Our intention is clear. The permission for AIIMS Darbhanga was given by the Modi government on 19 September 2020 and the first land was given by the Bihar government on 3 November 2021.”

He went on to accuse the Bihar government of “doing politics,” and changing the assigned place for the AIIMS in April 2023. 

Mandaviya said, “On May 26, the Centre wrote a letter to the Bihar government saying the new plot allocated by your government is not suitable for construction. Why was the plot changed and for whose interests? What did your own MLA say in the Bihar Legislative Assembly about the unsuitable land given for AIIMS?”