LG issues notice to Asha Kiran shelter home administration

Lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena has directed to issue a show case notice to the administrator of the Rohini-based Asha Kiran shelter home where 14 inmates died in July allegedly due to health issues and malnutrition arising out of poor living conditions, officials from the LG secretariat said.
The LG has also asked the Delhi health secretary to post doctors at the facility, which houses people who are mentally challenged, within a week. He has also ordered the removal of the duty medical officer for obstructing the investigation into the death of the inmates, the officials said.
The action has come based on a report by the social welfare departmentsubmitted to the LG following the death of the inmates.
In the report dated July 19, it was flagged that there was a surge in the cases of acute gastroenteritis and tuberculosis on account of malnutrition and negligence due to lack of supervision by superintendent and welfare officers that led to several deaths. The report also highlighted poor hygiene, sanitary conditions and total lack of absence of monitoring by welfare officer as well as the superintendent. The report also points out that the administrator, despite several alerts, chose not to act, the official quoted above said.
“The LG has taken a stern view of the grave discrepancies and irregularities, particularly medical negligence in the functioning of Asha Kiran home. A report submitted to the LG after the death of 14 intellectually challenged inmates in July this year underlines these among the reasons behind inhuman conditions that led to these unfortunate deaths of the most helpless in the society,” said an official.
The extremely poor living conditions at shelter home came in spotlight after reports about deaths of at least 28 inmates since January 2024 surfaced recently. Fourteen among them, 13 adults and one minor, had died in July alone.
Saxena had earlier sought a white paper on the revamp and refurbishment of facilities taking care of the mentally challenged after the death of people at Asha Kiran shelter home. On Friday, he directed the chief secretary to review its progress.
He has also directed upgrading the infrastructure at the shelter home on a war footing and instructed deputy commissioners, who have been designated as administrators for the three facilities under the social welfare department, to fortnightly visit these facilities and submit their reports, officials said.
The LG has further instructed that digital records must be maintained at the time of admission of inmates, which tracks the history of treatment, health parameters, nutritional inputs among other things. Additionally, Saxena suggested that the social welfare department, in consultation with NIMHANS Bangalore and health department, reassess the requirement of specialists who are trained to understand the special needs of intellectually challenged inmates and undertake necessary measures for their recruitment, officials said.
“It is incomprehensible that in the eventuality of outbreak of communicable disease, why isolation of inmates was not done to prevent its spread. It is also brought out that there is extreme overcrowding and the number of inmates is way beyond the capacity of the facility resulting in inhuman conditions for the inmates,” the LG noted in his recent letter to the chief secretary, a copy of which has been seen by HT.
The report also highlighted several glaring lapses and inadequacies, including overcrowding, in the functioning of the shelter home. It also mentioned that the inmates’ diet plan does not meet their nutritional requirement, and that there was also an absence of basic facilities such as fans, air purifiers, air conditioning, water purifier etc.
Another report by the chief medical officer to Asha Kiran in June added that the primary reason for the deaths was non-timely diagnosis and absence of treatment of the medical conditions of the inmates.
The official from the LG secretariat said that despite clear instructions of the LG, action taken on providing adequate compensation to the parents/guardians of the deceased has not been initiated, which should be done at the earliest.
On the development, the Aam Adami Party (AAP) said that it had earlier highlighted the corrupt practices of the shelter home’s administrator even as it questioned the LG why doctors and paramedics were not posted at the facility.
“It is high time that the LG office should show some sense of responsibility and answerability towards the people of Delhi and he should take strict action against those who are responsible for the mismanagement and deaths at Asha Kiran Shelter Home,” the party said in a statement.