HC asks AAP govt about arrangements for beds in hospitals for COVID-19 patients

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the AAP government what arrangements it has made for patients suffering from COVID-19 who may be critical and require to be shifted to care homes or centres. The query was posed to the Delhi government by a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramanium Prasad, during hearing of a PIL seeking increasing the COVID-19 testing numbers in the city, after the petitioner said he could not get a bed in any private hospital or nursing home near his home and had to be accommodated in a friend's clinic at Dwarka here where he was on oxygen support.

The bench said the petitioner, advocate Rakesh Malhotra, was one of several thousands of people in the city who are "struggling for treatment and finding beds in hospitals and nursing homes" and asked the Delhi government whether it has made "adequate arrangements for patients suffering from COVID-19 who may be critical and those who would require to be shifted to care homes". The court said "people are running helter-skelter without knowing what to do" and there are small children and elderly people who are very susceptible to the infection.

It said everyone was struggling to find beds in hospitals and even the judges were receiving calls from several quarters requesting their help in getting admitted to hospitals. The bench directed the Delhi government to file a status report indicating steps taken by it in this regard.

It also told the government that after a test report is available it should be immediately communicated to the person concerned on his mobile number which is given, and insisted upon, at the time of testing. Delhi government additional standing counsel Satyakam said an advisory has been issued on November 6 directing all the districts to ensure that samples once collected by teams must reach the lab for testing within six hours of collection and the result be informed telephonically to client within six hours of report being available.

The court had on October 20 directed the Delhi government to ensure that test results are conveyed to patients/persons concerned in 24 hours..

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