Soon after Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal overruled Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to say that Delhi government hospitals could treat everyone, irrespective of whether they were residents of the city, the former seems to have accepted the decision.
But while Kejriwal on Monday evening said that the Delhi government would try to make arrangements to provide treatment to all those coming from outside Delhi, it seems to have been a grudging acquiescence.
In a tweet posted on Monday evening the Chief Minister said that Baijal's order had created "a huge problem and challenge for the people of Delhi".
"Providing treatment for people coming from all over the country during the corona epidemic is a big challenge. May God bless us to serve the people of the whole country. We will try to provide treatment to all," he wrote in Hindi. Kejriwal who is reportedly unwell is incidentally slated to take a coronavirus test on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Baijal had said that "treatment should not be denied to any patient on grounds of being a non-resident".
Baijal who is the Chairman of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had also overruled another related order given by the AAP-led government which had said that asymptomatic contacts of COVID-19 patients did not need to be tested.
He wrote, "All departments and authorities concerned of NCT of Delhi, to ensure that ICMR strategy for COVID-19 testing in India issued on 18.05.2020 and as updated from time to time, be observed in NCT of Delhi without any deviation."
(With inputs from agencies)
