The Delhi High Court on Monday asked Delhi government to file a reply on a petition seeking to create "an accountable, fair and transparent mechanism" for allocating beds to COVID-19 patients in Delhi hospitals.
A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli sought Delhi government's response and listed the matter for further hearing on May 21.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Manjit Singh. Senior Advocate Vivek Sood and lawyer Anish Chawla appeared for petitioner.
The petitioner sought directions to the respondent to set up a centralized agency along with help desks outside every COVID-19 hospital in Delhi for helping the patients locate a bed in another hospital, if they cannot be admitted in that particular hospital.
The petitioner submitted that in the health crisis, Delhi hospitals are following a deplorable VIP culture of allocating beds to COVID-19 patients.
"Thus, in order to overcome the said 'VIP culture' and to ensure fairness and transparency, there should be a mechanism to ensure fair allocation of the hospital beds to common man," the petition said.
"The hospitals should be obliged to maintain a record wherein the name of the patient and time of seeking a bed in that hospital should be recorded. In case the patient is refused admission, the reason for not providing the bed to the person should also be recorded, " the petition said, adding that this will not only ensure transparency but also make the hospitals accountable for refusing a person who has approached the hospital for a bed.
"In the present situation of health emergency, where the demand for hospital beds is more than supply, there should be some mechanism to ensure that allocation of beds to COVID-19 patients in the hospitals across the city is not arbitrary and unreasonable but rather a record/data should be maintained for refusal of beds to the patients. The mechanism of bed allocation may depend on necessity, 'first come first serve' basis, geographical convenience of COVID-19 patients or other factors," the petition said.
"However, no patient should be refused a hospital bed merely for the reason that the same is being reserved unofficially for VIPs who are not even in the immediate need of the same. Moreover, it is being seen that patients are unable to locate beds due to the fact that the information available on the Delhi corona help website," it added.
The petition said that the app is not being updated regularly and more often than not, hospital phone numbers are busy or unresponsive, leaving patients on their own running around the city.
"The need of the hour in such a situation is the creation of a centralised system having help desks in each COVID hospital to guide and assign hospitals to the patients approaching them. Even doctors are suggesting a centralised system to ensure availability of beds, " the petition said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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