Bury differences, join hands to battle COVID-19 in Delhi: Shah tells all-party meet

Shah’s ‘live-streamed’ visit to Delhi hospital after all-party meet

A day after announcing a series of steps to tackle worsening COVID-19 situation in the capital, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday made a "surprise visit" to Delhi-government run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital to review its preparedness that was unprecedentedly streamed live on his YouTube channel.

The visit comes hours after he held an all-party meeting on the COVID-19 situation in Delhi during which he appealed to all leaders for a united fight against the pandemic by keeping politics away and promising all help from the Centre.

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Shah's pro-active interventions, including two meetings on Sunday, came after the directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reviewed the situation on Saturday and directed the Home Minister to hold discussions.

The Home Minister's meeting came on day Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "many people are speculating whether another lockdown in Delhi is being planned. There are no such plans."

During his review meeting at LNJP hospital with senior doctors and officials, Shah also directed Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev to instal CCTVs in all COVID-19 wards in hospitals for proper monitoring, setting up back-up canteens in case the existing one has to be shut and psycho-social counselling of doctors and nurses engaged in treatment of patients to ensure that they are not only physically fit but also psychologically fit too in fight against the pandemic.

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His visit was streamed live and during his meeting with doctors, a senior doctor was heard explaining the situation in the hospital and Shah asking for some clarifications. The meeting was streamed live for a few minutes before the cameraman was asked to leave the hall. Later, Shah’s inspection of the hospital was also streamed live.

During his meeting with Delhi leaders of AAP, BJP, Congress and BSP, Shah briefed them about the decisions taken on Sunday to increase the testing by three-fold in six days and hospital beds by deploying 500 isolation coaches among others.

The Home Minister assured the leaders that the Centre would take all necessary steps to prevent the pandemic and all parties must contribute to fulfilling the decisions taken. He said it was time to forget political differences and work for the benefit of the people.

Read: Amit Shah seizes moment as coronavirus pandemic jolts Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

"A united fight by all parties will increase the confidence of the people and this fight will also get more strength and the situation in Delhi will soon be normal. We have to increase the testing of COVID-19 in Delhi," Shah said in the meeting attended by AAP's Sanjay Singh, BJP Delhi president Adesh Gupta and Delhi Congress chief Anil Kumar Chaudhary among others.

Soon after the meeting, Delhi Congress announced a dharna on Tuesday against the "inept" handling of the COVID-19 situation by both the Delhi and central governments. Chaudhary said people could participate in the dharna from their homes and insisted that all should adhere to social distancing.

"Shah has called this all-party meeting only today. This should have happened much earlier. The Chief Minister has now left it to Amit Shah. Both the Delhi and the central governments have been exposed," he said.

Chaudhary alleged that Kejriwal misled people and held private hospitals responsible for the situation. "Construction of three large hospitals, with 2,609 beds, should have been completed by December last year. What game is the Delhi government playing?" he told reporters.

"Everyone should have the right to test. Treatment is possible only through testing and tracing policy followed by all countries. The Home Minister has accepted that. He has assured that under a new testing policy everyone will have the right to testing," he claimed.

AAP's Singh said increasing the number of hospital beds by 1,900 in state hospitals, 2,000 in central hospitals and 1,178 in private hospitals were spoken about in the meeting. He also said a deployment of another 500 isolation coaches to the 500 coaches announced on Sunday was also raised in the meeting and this would add 16,000 beds in total.

Kumar of BJP said he demanded that 50% of charges should be waived off on testing and claimed that Shah has approved it. He also said that charges at private hospitals should be fixed.