New Delhi [India], Oct 19 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that every person in the city will get free healthcare facilities within a radius of one kilometre.
He made the comments after inaugurating 100 'mohalla' (neighbourhood) clinics in the city, taking its total to over 300.
Participating in a function at a newly constructed mohalla clinic near the Sangam Vihar flyover in Timarpur here, Kejriwal said, "It has been our mission to provide high quality, free healthcare facilities to all residents of Delhi, within a one-kilometre radius of their homes."
"We are now close to achieving this goal. Never before in the world have primary health centres been opened on the scale that we have in the last five years. On days like this, I feel that the purpose of ordinary citizens entering politics has been fulfilled," he added.
The Chief Minister said that mohalla clinics were launched by the AAP government in 2015 and people no longer needed to visit hospitals and travel far from their homes to get treatment.
"People had to travel long distances in buses to reach government hospitals, or go to private clinics that charged hefty fees. Mohalla clinics are making healthcare more accessible to people," Kejriwal said.
"Delhi has an area of one and a half thousand square kilometres, of which 500 square kilometres are green or forest areas. Much of the population is settled within the remaining thousand square kilometre area. Our mission is to open one mohalla clinic within one square kilometre. Hundred more mohalla clinics will open next month. This will help us take one more step closer to our target of 1,000 clinics," Kejriwal said.
The AAP supremo said that the concept of mohalla clinics is being hailed all over the world.
"The number of mohalla clinics opened in Delhi in the last five years is more than the number of primary health centres opened in the entire country in the same time frame. The Prime Minister of the Netherlands and former UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon have both visited our mohalla clinics. They have become the talk of the entire world," Kejriwal said. (ANI)