HC: State must ensure treatment to all patients

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Thursday directed the Delhi government to ensure treatment was available to all Covid patients from the national capital, and said that medical facilities in city was unable to hold up to the test it was put under by the pandemic’s current wave.

The remarks and directions were given by a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli which was hearing a plea by a 53-year-old Covid patient who was unable to get an ICU bed with a ventilator after his oxygen saturation fell to around 40 (from the ideal 95 and above).

“The existing medical infrastructure in the state is completely exposed... when it was put to the test... The obligation of the state to provide sufficient infrastructure to protect the lives of the people cannot be understated. At the same time, one cannot lose sight of the fact that we are faced with a oncein-a-century pandemic and even most economically advanced nations have found their infrastructure to be lacking to deal with the massive surge of cases,” it noted in its oral order.

When senior advocate Rahul Mehra, representing the Delhi government, argued that the court should not say the medical infrastructure was in “shambles”, the bench responded: “Now you are behaving like the ostrich with its head in the sand. When you defend this situation, then you are not rising above the politics. We always call a spade a spade.”

Mehra admitted that existing infrastructure is “struggling”, but requested the court that it is not in shambles as that has a different connotation to it.

“In the absence of oxygen what could the infrastructure do? Hospitals were reducing beds due to lack of oxygen,” he said, adding that the city government has taken several initiatives, like augmenting beds by 15,000 and ICU beds by 1,200, which are in the pipeline and the oxygen is also coming in.

To this, the bench said: “It is not just oxygen. Is oxygen enough? If you have oxygen, do you have everything? Pipeline is pipeline. They are not there now.”

Mehra withdrew the statement saying that he only wanted to state the reasons behind the infrastructure failure.

The court said that it was bound to issue directions to the state for the petitioner, and several others like him, because it was their fundamental right.

“The petitioner needs an ICU bed with ventilator facility and ideally the same should be available. We are bound to issue a writ to the state to provide the infrastructure to enable the petitioner to undergo the treatment required to save his life... At the same time we cannot lose sight of the fact that thousands of others are afflicted by the same disease in the city and whose condition may be as bad as that of the petitioner, if not worse,” it said.

The court added that just because the petitioner was able to approach the court cannot be a reason to pass an order in his favour so that he can steal a march over others who may not have had the same option.

“We, therefore, dispose of the petition with a direction to the respondent (Delhi government) that they shall provide facility for medical treatment as may be required by all the residents of Delhi who are suffering from Covid-19.

“In case they require hospitalisation, it shall be provided. If medicines, it shall be provided. If oxygen, it shall be provided. If ICU with or without a ventilator, the state would be obligated to provide that too,” the bench said.

Meanwhile, another bench of the Delhi high court on Thursday asked why the Delhi government was not using a 150-bed multi-speciality hospital, which was closed down due to an insolvency resolution process against its parent company, and whose services were being offered by the doctor who established it.

The high court said the Delhi government should “think out of the box” in view of the Covid wave, which has led to a shortage of beds for patients in the national capital.

“150 beds are there. We are struggling to find beds every day. We are fighting for it everyday, and you are saying you will not touch it (hospital)... He (petitioner-doctor) is offering his hospital, he is ready to bring in his medical team, what else can you ask for?”chief justice DN Patel said.

The bench was hearing a plea by Dr Rakesh Saxena seeking permission to operate the Febris Multispeciality Hospital to cater to Covid-19 patients in the national capital.