Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices in a PIL petition, seeking direction to State government to collect samples for coronavirus diagnostic tests from all persons who died while undergoing treatment in different hospitals of the State.
Retired university professor and Telangana Democratic Forum convenor P.L. Vishweshwar Rao filed the PIL plea. A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy, after hearing contentions of the petitioner’s counsel Ch. Prabhakar, sought to know the guidelines issued by World Health Organisation on the matter.
The bench asked the petitioner’s counsel to pass on the guidelines to Advocate General B.S. Prasad. The professor stated that government had, on April 20, issued a circular not to collect samples of those who died after undergoing treatment for various ailments in hospitals across the State.
Citing an example, the professor said that a woman from Chennur of Mancherial district had respiratory problems and was shifted to King Koti hospital. While undergoing treatment, she died on April 14. Samples collected from her body subsequently confirmed that she had contracted the virus.
Immediately, authorities quarantined all primary contacts of the woman suspecting that they too would have got the virus. But the government is not following this practice in case of others who die while undergoing treatment in other hospitals in the State, the petitioner said.
They are only collecting samples from bodies of persons who died in COVID-19-notified hospitals. This is putting lives of several people in danger, the professor stated. He also wanted the government to notify 100-bed or 50-bed hospitals for treating coronavirus patients in all district headquarters hospitals so that more people are extended medical assistance simultaneously.