Gandhinagar, March 19 (IANS): Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, here on Thursday, said the state's model of healthcare was far better than the mohalla clinics model of healthcare, without naming it the mohalla clinic system, a widely acclaimed system launched by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi.

He was responding to a question by Kishor Singh Chauhan, BJP legislator from Vejalpur, whether the state government was planning to set up anything similar to that in Gujarat.

Patel said it could be a model for the city state like Delhi and not for large state like Gujarat. Also, the state's healthcare system was better and patients from seven neighbouring states, like MP and Maharashtra, come here to get treated, he said and added, even foreign nationals visited Gujarat.

Many other states were trying to replicate the Gujarat model, he said.

The mohalla clinics, which is said to have played a big role in the AAP's return to power, charges no fees and have been set up at around 158 locations across the national capital. Till January this year, the AAP government had inaugurated 450 mohalla clinics.

Taking a cue from the AAP's success, several state governments have started replicating it. Telangana, MP, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Union Territory of J&K have announced plans to replicate the initiative.

The mohalla clinics have also received appreciation from the likes of former U.N. Secretary Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon for its accessibility and effectiveness. Ban Ki-moon had also visited one of the clinics to have a first-hand knowledge about its functioning.