Over 70 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs inaugurated

In a major push to strengthen neighbourhood-level healthcare services in the national capital, Delhi Government on Tuesday opened more than 70 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs across Delhi, describing the initiative as a transformative step towards building a modern and accessible primary health system. The Chief Minister Rekha Gupta launched the centres both virtually and in-person from the maternity and child welfare centre (MCW) in Shakti Nagar.

The new Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, spread across North, Central, North-West, Shahdara, West, New Delhi, South-West, East, South-East, South and North-East Delhi, will provide a range of essential health services, including regular check-ups, free essential and common medicines, maternal and child care, immunisation, preventive healthcare, counselling and tele-consultations with specialists.

Model Town MLA Ashok Goel and several local representatives were present at the central inauguration event, where the CM inspected the newly launched facility and interacted with healthcare workers about equipment, staffing and patient services.

The CM said the government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, aimed to ensure that every citizen had access to affordable and quality healthcare close to home. “These arogya mandirs function as fully equipped primary health centres offering dressings, vaccinations, consultations and medicines. Nearly 250 centres are already active and our target is to set up more than 1,000 across Delhi,” she said, adding that 15 arogya mandirs would be developed in every Assembly constituency to reduce pressure on large hospitals.

Highlighting shortcomings in the earlier Mohalla Clinic model, Gupta said many centres lacked doctors, medicines and required staff. She said the government had been working round the clock for the last several months to improve health services.

Apart from the CM’s inauguration, senior ministers and MLAs also opened centres in their respective regions as part of the citywide rollout.

In Shahdara, Labour and Development Minister Kapil Mishra inaugurated an arogya mandir in Sarai Mohalla and said four such centres had been launched in the Assembly constituency alone. Mishra said the new government inherited a system “filled with dust, cobwebs and disorder” and was now rapidly improving essential services such as roads, e-buses, water supply and health infrastructure. “Earlier crores were spent on advertising, not on schemes. We have changed that,” he said. He also invoked the day’s religious significance, noting that Guru Tegh Bahadur ji attained martyrdom in Delhi on the same date.

In Sultanpuri, Social Welfare Minister and North-West Delhi in-charge Ravinder Indraj Singh inaugurated arogya mandirs in C-Block and F-Block and said the city was witnessing a healthcare revolution. He stated that 1,139 arogya mandirs would be set up in the capital, with 238 already functional. “These are not old dispensaries but mini hospitals with OPD services, medicines, lab tests and vaccinations,” he said, adding that 1,400 nurses and paramedics had been given permanent appointments.

In New Delhi, Cabinet Minister Parvesh Verma, accompanied by NDMC Chairman Keshav Chandra and Council Members Anil Valmiki and Dinesh Pratap Singh, inaugurated three arogya mandirs at Bapu Dham, Netaji Nagar and Golf Links. Verma said lab testing facilities, missing from old dispensaries, were now available at these centres, along with expensive medicines being provided free of cost. “These centres will reduce the need for people to depend on costly hospitals,” he said.