Delhi to provide free treatment to accident victims

New Delhi: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday announced that the state government will provide free treatment to all accident victims in the national capital.

"If there is any accident case within Delhi and the victim is admitted to any hospital, including privates ones...then Delhi government will bear the entire cost of the treatment. The victim does not have to pay anything," said Jain.

He was speaking at the inauguration of new ventilator machines at the Delhi government`s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital.

A total of 125 new ventilator machines have been provided to several Delhi government hospitals as part of the improvement in medical treatment in these hospitals.

A ventilator is a machine designed to move breathable air into and out of the lungs, to provide breathing for a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently.

Jain also said that the Aam Aadmi Party government will increase the mohalla clinics from the existing 110 to 1,000 in the next six months, so that the burden on the Delhi government hospitals was reduced.

According to Jain, Delhi government hospitals in the last one year had witnessed a total of four crore patients in the Out Patient Departments (OPDs), which is increasing fast.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led government was also willing to increase the number of polyclinics from 23 to 150 in the coming months.

A polyclinic is a clinic that provides both general and specialist examination and treatment to outpatients and is usually independent of a hospital.

On the occasion, Jain also extended help to those Delhi patients who were compelled to undergo surgeries at the city`s private hospitals due to the long wait in Delhi government hospitals.

Jain said: "If the waiting time for a patient`s surgery in Delhi government`s hospital is beyond one month then we (Delhi government) will get the surgery done in the private hospitals of Delhi and bear all the cost required for the treatment," said Jain.