The Delhi High Court on Monday disposed of a suo motu proceedings related to denial of beds and healthcare facilities to COVID-19 patients observing that the Delhi government has taken various steps and initiatives to resolve the issues.
A division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan, while disposing of the matter, directed the Delhi government to ensure that all its directions and office orders including maintaining real-time data updation on availability of COVID-19 beds in the hospitals of the national capital are scrupulously followed by the authorities.
The High Court also appreciated the efforts of amicus curiae advocate Om Prakash in assisting the court. The court observed that the Delhi government and the Centre has appointed nodal officers to take care of the issue in the hospitals.
The court remarked that much more care has been taken by the Delhi government and the bench does not need to monitor the matter anymore.
Delhi government counsel Rahul Mehra told the court that helpline number is working in a proper manner and over 37,000 calls were attended so far. Mehra apprised the court that testing has been escalated in the city and the number of ambulances has also been increased and now the national capital has over 600 ambulances.
As of July 9, the city has 602 ambulances, Mehra said adding that around 7.5 lakh buffer Rapid Antigen testing kits are available with the government.
Meanwhile, Prakash told the court about the denial of admission of one patient by Indraprastha's Apollo Hospital due to the non-availability of bed.
Apollo Hospital counsel told the court that the patient was looking for a private ward, which was not available at the time. Apollo counsel also apprised the court that the patient was offered a bed in the general ward, which was available.
The court directed Apollo Hospital to upload real-time data immediately so that beds available in the hospital should be provided to the patients.
The court also disposed of the petition filed by advocate Krishna Kumar Sharma who has sought direction for ensuring that the government and private hospitals shall not deny the admission to asymptomatic and symptomatic COVID-19 patients.
( With inputs from ANI )