"High Court Demands State's Answer on Minor’s Plea Against Hospital Treatment Denial"

He was rushed to Dr Hedgewar Aarogya Sansthan emergency ward where the doctors referred him to a higher centre.The plea said that on the boys emergency card, the doctor on duty wrote Cotton NA and the boy was advised to buy the same.

The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the Delhi government's response on a plea seeking reimbursement of medical expenses and compensation for a minor boy who was denied treatment by two government-run hospitals for want of cotton swabs and non-availability of doctors, calling the incident ''shocking''.

Justice Subramonium Prasad issued notice to the Delhi government asking it to file a status report within 10 days.

The high court directed that the report shall also indicate the condition of other Delhi government-run hospitals, and listed the matter for further hearing on May 30.

The petition contended that the conduct of the two Delhi government-run hospitals-- Dr Hedgewar Aarogya Sansthan and Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya-- denying treatment to the petitioner, a school boy, for want of cotton and non-availability of doctor is ''illegal, arbitrarily, malafide, unethical and violates the fundamental right to health''.

The petitioner, represented by advocates Ashok Agarwal and Kumar Utkarsh, said it is a case of criminal negligence on the part of the hospitals.

The plea sought a direction to the Delhi government to reimburse medical expenses of Rs 12,000 incurred on his treatment and grant Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the child. The incident took place on April 1 when the child, a class III student, fell while playing at his school and fractured his left arm. He was rushed to Dr Hedgewar Aarogya Sansthan emergency ward where the doctors referred him to a higher centre.

The plea said that on the boy's emergency card, the doctor on duty wrote “Cotton NA” and the boy was advised to buy the same. It said the boy's father, who works as a security guard, took him to Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya where they were told that “no doctor was available as it was already 5:30 p.m.” and doctors had “left the hospital at 3 p.m.”.

Left with no other option, the petitioner was taken to a private clinic which then referred him to Chandra Laxmi Hospital where his left arm was plastered at midnight, the petition said.

The plea said the child’s mother works as a maid servant and she borrowed Rs 12,000 from her employer to pay the bills.

It claimed the Delhi government miserably failed to perform its constitutional obligation to provide to its residents “free and quality health care”.

The lawyers said they served a legal notice to the government against denial of medical treatment at the two state-run hospitals and asked it to reimburse the expenses along with a compensation of Rs 1 lakh but no response was received.