HC asks HP govt not to shift COVID patients from Sirmaur, Solan to DDU

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Tuesday directed the state government not to shift COVID-19 patients from Sirmaur and Solan to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital here unless health facilities in these districts run out of required infrastructure. A division bench comprising Chief Justice L Narayana Swamy and Justice Anoop Chitkara passed the order on a petition filed by Inderjit Singh.

The petitioner challenged the July 16 order of the state government designating Shimla's DDU Zonal Hospital a dedicated COVID care centre for Solan and Sirmaur also, in addition to Shimla and Kinnaur. The petitioner stated that DDU Hospital itself has several shortcomings and it is not ready to bear the extra burden from other districts.

"At a meeting of the health department on May 15, an overall analysis of equipment and staff was done and it itself reflected the shortcomings of the hospital to be fully-equipped and handle the situation as per the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare," he said. There is a requirement of 11 more anaesthetists, 62 staff nurses and four radiographers in the hospital. Besides this, one remote control monitoring system is needed to be installed to prevent staffers to be exposed to patients, the petition added. In such a situation, the petitioner said, it would be detrimental in the public interest to transfer the patients all the way from Solan and Sirmaur to DDU in Shimla.

During the course of hearing on August 7, it was pointed out by the state director, health services, that there are 24 ventilators and given the infrastructure, one anaesthetist can cater to six ventilators only. However, on Tuesday it was stated that there are two anaesthetists working to cater to the ventilators. The court observed that even then 12 ventilators do not have anaesthetists. Hence, it is not right for the state to order shifting of patients from Sirmaur and Solan unless those hospitals run out of infrastructure.

The matter will be heard on August 17.

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