Several social media users, including members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are using an image of a dilapidated mohalla clinic located in Delhi’s Babarpur area to indicate the current state of mohalla clinics under the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government.
However, we found that the image is from 2018 when the clinic located in Babarpur’s Kabir Nagar had become a resting place for horses and donkeys. It was later inaugurated in 2019 and has been functional ever since.
CLAIM
Delhi MP and BJP leader Gautam Gambhir shared the image of a dilapidated mohalla clinic in Delhi, questioning whether universities such as Harvard and Stanford are researching them.
The image and claim were amplified by several BJP members, such as Abhijeet Singh Sanga, Abhay Verma, among others. National in-charge (legal) of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Charu Pragya, also shared a similar claim.
Other social media users also shared the image with a similar claim on Facebook and the archived posts can be viewed here and here.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We performed a reverse image search on the viral photograph and came across a YouTube video from June 2018.
With the help of a keyword search, we came across a report by Dainik Jagaran published on 19 June 2018 that mentioned that the mohalla clinic in AAP minister Gopal Rai’s constituency Babarpur had become a resting place for horses and donkeys.
Further, a screenshot of The Quint’s ground report that is being shared by several social media users, is also from June 2018.
In 2018, The Quint had visited the said mohalla clinic in Babarpur’s Kabir Nagar and had found that it was in the worst condition, with horses and donkeys living in it. Set up in 2017, the establishment had caught fire before its inauguration and had been left in a charred state.
Sulaiman, a local resident of Kabir Nagar, had then told us: “It was put up a year ago but no one maintained it. A month ago, a fire broke out here. Since then it’s been lying vacant and untended.”
WHAT ABOUT THE PRESENT STATE OF THE MOHALLA CLINIC IN BABARPUR?
AAP minister Gopal Rai had inaugurated the mohalla clinic in Babarpur’s Kabir Nagar in October 2019 and had shared the images on his Twitter account.
In a run-up to Delhi Assembly elections in 2020, The Quint had then visited three mohalla clinics in Babarpur and Usmanpur localities to gauge the sentiment among voters, one of which was the mohalla clinics located in Kabir Nagar.
While Maisar, a Babarpur resident for over seven years, had told us that she got relief from the treatment provided at the mohalla clinic in Babarpur’s Kabir Nagar, another local, Ramshri, living in the area for 20 years, said that she had visited the clinic thrice but didn’t get the required medicine.
We had then visited another mohalla clinic in Babarpur where Tasleema Begum had come to see the doctor regarding stones in her gall bladder.
“My husband has breathing problems. So, when he comes here, doctors give him medicines for eight days and he also gets facility of ambu bag (pump).”Tasleema Begum, Homemaker
Further, replying to Gambhir’s tweet, AAP Delhi’s official handle shared a video of the party’s councillor Sajid Khan saying that the mohalla clinic has been operational since 2019.
Further, a full list of functional mohalla clinics run by the Delhi government is available on its website and can be viewed here.
Evidently, a three-year-old photo was shared by several BJP leaders to target the Aam Aadmi Party on the state of mohalla clinics.
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