High court quashes CMO order restraining Kashi hospital from treating Covid patients

PRAYAGRAJ : The Allahabad high court on Monday quashed an order of the chief medical officer (CMO), Varanasi, restraining a hospital in that district from giving treatment to Covid patients on the allegation that it charged more than the prescribed fee from a Covid-19 patient. On July 10 last year, the UP government had capped the prices for the treatment of Covid patients in private hospitals in the state.

The bench comprising Justice SP Kesarwani and Justice SA Rizvi passed the order while allowing a petition filed by Medwin Hospital and Research Centre.

“Court took judicial notice of the fact that presently there is a spike in Covid-19 patients in the State of Uttar Pradesh particularly in districts Varanasi, Lucknow, Allahabad and Kanpur. In Government Hospitals adequate beds are not available to accommodate the Covid-19 patients for their treatment,” the bench observed.

“The Government itself is engaging various private nursing homes and hospitals for treatment of Covid-19 patients. Under the circumstances, the impugned order does not appeal to reason that the petitioner’s hospital itself be restrained from giving treatment to Covid-19 patients, merely on the allegation of a patient that some excessive amount was charged by it,” the court said.

However, the court granted liberty to the competent authority to pass an order afresh against the hospital under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 and the Uttar Pradesh Epidemic Disease Covid-19 Regulations 2020.

The impugned order was passed on December 11, 2020, on the allegation that the petitioner’s hospital had realised higher than the prescribed fee from a Covid patient Anand Kumar Mishra who had made a complaint to the CMO, Varanasi, in this regard on August 27, 2020.