The Delhi BJP on Monday alleged the “suspicious” role of Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj’s OSD Dr RN Gupta in the “illegally running” children’s hospital in Vivek Vihar where seven newborn babies died in a fire incident.  Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva in a statement alleged that the health department during an inspection in 2021 found the children’s hospital capable of admitting five newborns only but the officer on special duty (OSD) of the Health minister on an application of the hospital owner tried to approve the capacity to treat 10 babies.

Bharadwaj said that nobody will be spared if found guilty. He claimed that Sachdeva was lying and the hospital was given permission of five beds only. “The Health department had earlier also lodged cases against him that are pending in the courts,” he said.Bharadwaj said that the hospital was inspected and registered in 2021 while he became the Health minister in 2023.  Any attempt to link him with registration of the hospital will be dealt with legal action, he warned.

“In 2021, during an inspection, the health department found this child hospital capable of caring for only five children, but then Dr. R.N. Das, based on the hospital owner’s application, tried to approve the capacity to treat 10 children and infact allowed deposit of 10 bed fees,” Sachdeva  said.

He accused the AAP led Delhi government of protecting the hospital running in an unauthorised manner. “Despite this, there were 12 children admitted to the hospital during the fire, indicating that the hospital was operating continuously in an unauthorised manner and was under the protection of the Delhi government, hence no action was taken even on the local Residential Welfare Association’s (RWA) complaints,’ he said.

Further, Sachdeva claimed that Dr. R.N. Das has been very close to former Health Minister Satyendra Jain since 2021 and also to the current Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj. “The roles of Satyendra Jain and Saurabh Bharadwaj in this hospital case are also suspicious, and an investigation into their roles in running the hospital illegally is necessary,” he alleged.

Sachdeva also claimed that Bhardwaj’s OSD, along with the hospital owners, are responsible for such an incident. “It is necessary to register a case of collusion and negligence against Dr. R.N. Das along with the hospital owner and to investigate and arrest him as well. An investigation into the Fire Department is also necessary in this entire matter because in the past few years, there have been several major fire accidents and every time cases of unauthorised factories, warehouses, etc., have come to fore in Delhi,” he said.

He claimed that during the tenure of Delhi’s Fire Department Head Atul Garg many cases of corruption has come to light. “Since 2016, Atul Garg has been the head of the Fire Department in Delhi, and during this time, cases of corruption in the Fire Department have come to light, and even in the case of the children hospital, an illegal gas filling plant was operating due to the negligence of the Delhi Fire Department,” he said.