Provide details on facilities for Covid-19 patients: HC tells Delhi government, Centre
The court took note of a viral video accusing both governments of lapses in arrangements for Covid-19 patients.
by Scroll StaffThe Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Centre and the Aam Aadmi Party-led government to provide details on the arrangements for coronavirus patients, reported PTI. The court asked the authorities to also provide information on the helplines set up for those in need of immediate hospitalisation.
A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar made the observations as they took suo motu cognisance of a widely-shared video of a man accusing the administration of lapses in taking care of patients. The man, identified as Dharmendra Bhardwaj, alleged that the “tall claims” of both the governments regarding arrangements for Covid-19 patients are “far from true on ground”.
The judges said that the video raised “serious issues of public concern in the present day context”.
In the video, Bhardwaj said that his mother was admitted to a private hospital on May 19, and tested positive for the coronavirus on May 21. He said that the private hospital then asked him to arrange for a ventilator and a bed in another hospital. However, he was unable to do so. The man also claimed that the helpline numbers of the Delhi government and the Centre were non-responsive.
The bench asked the governments to make sure that the helplines are effective for reporting coronavirus cases. It also asked the authorities to assess their adequacy to deal with the increasing call traffic and providing ambulance facilities for patients.
“The helplines should render meaningful and effective help to the callers,” the bench noted. “If the experience of Dharmendra Bhardwaj is anything to go by, it appears, that this aspect has not been adequately addressed by the respondents [the Centre and Delhi government],” they added.
The court directed the Centre and Delhi government to file their status reports on all the problems highlighted in the video and those mentioned by the court before June 3.
The bench appointed Advocate Om Prakash as the amicus curiae to look into the grievances raised in the video, Live Law reported. “The amicus curiae shall also call the helpline numbers and report with regard to their effectiveness in providing help to the callers,” the bench said.
During the hearing, the Delhi government’s standing counsel Rahul Mehra told the bench that there were around 10 helpline numbers and admitted that they were “found not to be functioning efficiently and instructions have been issued to set the system in order”. He added that this will be done in the next few days.
Mehra also told the court that the Delhi government will soon launch an app that will show live updates on beds available in government and private hospitals along with other related information.
Delhi has so far recorded 14,465 cases and 288 deaths. The total number of coronavirus cases in the country has crossed 1.51 lakh and 4,337 people have died of the infection, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.