No prior Covid test required to admit pregnant women: Delhi Govt to HC
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that no prior COVID-19 test report is required for admitting pregnant women in hospitals for in-patient interventions, including surgeries and delivery, and in emergency situations, hospitals cannot insist on the COVID-19 test results before starting treatment.
The government also told the bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan that it had “expanded” the use of Rapid Antigen Testing at hospitals to ensure that test results are available at the earliest, addressing difficulties faced by many patients, including pregnant women.
The government told the court that when a pregnant patient is admitted, her COVID-19 test can be conducted simultaneously along with treatment and if the patient were to test positive, she would ideally be transferred to a dedicated COVID-19 hospital for further management of her condition and symptoms. “In emergent situations (of pregnant women), the treatment must not be denied for want of COVID-19 test results. The test may be conducted simultaneously as per ICMR testing strategy,” the Delhi government said in its affidavit. The submissions were made in response to a PIL by a lawyer who has sought that test results of pregnant women be given priority.
The high court on June 22 had remarked that 5-7 day-gap was unreasonable for delivering COVID-19 test results of pregnant women before admitting them to hospitals for childbirth and had asked both the ICMR and Delhi government to look into it.
While the ICMR had said that they had already issued detailed guidelines for the management and COVID-19 testing of pregnant women, it cannot decide which category of patients should be given priority for testing.
However, the Delhi government sought more time to file a detailed response with regards to prioritising COVID-19 testing for pregnant women and the court has listed the matter for July 8. The Delhi government counsel told the court that it is trying its level best to ensure COVID-19 testing across all categories of patients with all the possible and justified prioritisation.