New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday (May 6) mentioned the prevailing medical infrastructure in the nationwide capital was ‘uncovered’ and in “shambles” when put to the check in the course of the pandemic and directed the Delhi authorities to supply facility for medical remedy as required by all residents of the nationwide capital who’re affected by COVID-19.
A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli additional mentioned the federal government was behaving like an ostrich with its head in the sand if it was disputing that the medical infrastructure was not in shambles. “Now you are behaving like the ostrich with its head in the sand. When you defend this situation, then you are not rising above the politics. We always call a spade a spade,” the bench mentioned to senior advocate Rahul Mehra, showing for the Delhi authorities, when he argued that the courtroom could not say the medical infrastructure was in shambles.
The bench mentioned,”the existing medical infrastructure in the state is completely exposed… When it was put to the test and this court cannot turn away people like the petitioner by merely telling him that the state does not have the infrastructure to deal with his situation…” To this Mehra mentioned,”The existing infrastructure is struggling, but the court may not say it is in shambles as that has a different connotation to it. In the absence of oxygen what could the infrastructure do. Hospitals were reducing beds due to lack of oxygen.”
He mentioned the federal government has taken a number of initiatives, like augmenting beds by 15,000 and ICU beds by 1,200, that are in the pipeline and the oxygen can also be coming in. However, the bench mentioned “No that is not right. It is not just oxygen. Is oxygen enough? If you have oxygen, do you have everything? Pipeline is pipeline. They are not there now”.
The observations and path got here whereas listening to a 53-year-old COVID affected person’s plea for an ICU mattress with a ventilator as his SPO2 (oxygen saturation) ranges had fallen to round 40 and he was unable to get ICU beds anyplace. The courtroom mentioned that it was the duty of the state to supply ample infrastructure to guard the lives of the individuals and the identical can’t be understated. “At the same time, we cannot lose sight of the fact that we are faced with a one in a century pandemic and even the most economically advanced countries found their infrastructure lacking to deal with the massive surge of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalisation,” the bench mentioned.
Referring to the reduction sought in the moment plea, the bench mentioned it was sworn to guard the basic rights of the individuals and subsequently, “we are bound to issue a writ to the state to provide the infrastructure to enable the petitioner to undergo the treatment required to save his life…” “At the same time we cannot lose sight of the fact that thousands of others are afflicted by the same disease in the city and whose condition may be as bad as that of the petitioner, if not worse,” it added.
The courtroom mentioned that simply because the petitioner was in a position to strategy the courtroom can’t be a motive to move an order in his favour in order that he can steal a march over others who could not have had the identical choice. “We, therefore, dispose of the petition with a direction to the respondent (Delhi govt) in rem that they shall provide facility for medical treatment as may be required by all the residents of Delhi who are suffering from COVID-19. “In case they require hospitalisation, it shall be supplied. If medicines, it shall be supplied. If oxygen, it shall be supplied. If ICU with or and not using a ventilator, the state would be obligated to supply that too,” the bench mentioned.
The courtroom, nonetheless, made it clear that merely as a result of it handed the order in the moment petition, it doesn’t imply the petitioner can declare preferential remedy. The bench mentioned the order would additionally profit all these equally located because the petitioner.
