Ready govt flats may also be converted into hospitals: HC
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has directed the government to increase the number of beds and ventilators for Covid-19 patients and also told them to consider using “ready to move in” government flats in the city as Covid-19 hospitals. The court told the government on Thursday that it could put beds and other infrastructure to accommodate infected patients in those houses. The detailed order of the court was uploaded on Saturday.
During the hearing, a bench of chief justice DN Patel and justice Prateek Jalan also asked all the hospitals in the city to upload the correct availability of “realtime bed capacity data” so that citizens would know about the bed capacity in hospitals in advance.
The directions came while the court was disposing of a joint plea moved by several lawyers of Charter law chambers, through advocate Mridul Chakravarty, seeking proper implementation of containment guidelines, especially in Defence Colony of South
Delhi (around 11 houses in C block had cases of Covid-19), and to ensure the availability of enough beds for Covid-19 patients in hospitals in Delhi.
On June 11, advocate Chakravarty, appearing for the petitioners, contended that the Delhi government had not declared Defence Colony a containment zone as per the guidelines issued by the Centre. He also submitted that more beds are required for Covid-19 patients.
Appearing for the Delhi government, its additional standing counsel Shadan Farasat, told the court that till June 9, they had 9,179 beds in the city, of which 4,914 beds have already been occupied and the rest are available for new patients. He also submitted that there are a total of 569 ventilators, of which 315 are being utilised and the remaining are available for use.
He assured the HC they are strictly following all guidelines and directions issued by the Centre and other competent bodies.
Following arguments, the bench said since a group of 11 houses in C block has already been made a containment zone, there was no reason to declare all of Defence Colony a red zone.
The court also said the “world is presently going through Covid-19 pandemic affecting all sections of the society at large, and in a matter like this, the government should be given some degree of movement.” It said that both the Centre and the Delhi government are aware of the situation and have been issuing directions from time to time.
“There cannot be any hard and fast mathematical solution to such a problem. In a situation like this, experimental based solutions are to be tested [sic].”
During the hearing, advocate Chakravarty, the counsel for the petitioners, also suggested that there are “ready to move in” government flats available in the city which could be utilised as Covid-19 hospitals.
The court asked the Delhi government to consider it when they formulate or amend their policy decisions. It also asked the government to consider the suggestions made by the Delhi Medical Association on June 6.