The Delhi High Court on Friday asked the Centre and Delhi government to treat as a representation a PIL seeking directions to mandate obtaining plasma from patients, who have recovered from COVID-19, both at hospitals and home quarantine.
A division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan asked the respondents to treat the petition and its suggestions as representation in accordance with the rules, laws, and government policies.
The petition, filed by one Piyush Gupta through advocate Kapil Goyal, sought directions to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and National Disaster Management Authority to constitute a statutory body to regulate the smooth availability of the plasma.
Senior Advocate Rakesh Tikkoo, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that as there are no other effective tools, except plasma therapy, invented to cure patients of COVID-19.
Unfortunately, despite the same being a major invention, our government is not taking effective steps for its sufficient availability, and for its proper implementation, Tikkoo said.
The plea sought directions to the respondents to constitute an overseeing body, which shall regulate the availability of the plasma and also pass necessary orders for establishing a proper mechsm thereby making it mandatory for all the hospitals either operated under Union of India or Delhi government or Municipal Corporation of Delhi or private testing labs to send data of all those who were found positive of COVID-19 and further make it obligatory on the part of every recovered patient to donate plasma at first instance.
It sought for the regulatory body to display, publicly, the availability of plasma and make available the same to the seriously ill patients free of cost or at a reasonable price.
The plea claimed that black marketing of plasma has started and submitted that a genuine person who needs plasma fails to get the same without running around from one place to another and may end up losing their lives to the virus during the same.
"It is necessary for the public at large to stop such kind of malpractice and to ensure that the plasma can be obtained from the recovered patient at the time of their discharge or to make a rule that every recovered patient have to provide plasma for the sake of treatment for others who are seriously ill," it added.
( With inputs from ANI )