The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and the State government to respond to a public interest litigation plea to mandate the government to bear COVID-19 treatment costs at private hospitals.
Justices Vineet Kothari and R. Suresh Kumar suo motu included the Centre as a respondent to the case since the petitioner, S. Jimraj Milton of the People’s Rights Protection Centre, had filed the plea only against the State government, and sought their response by June 16.
The judges sought details regarding the treatment provided to COVID-19 patients at government and private hospitals and the amount charged by private hospitals.
Seeking to know if governments had fixed any cap on treatment charges in notified private medical institutions, the court asked if there was any mechanism to lodge complaints about overcharging.
If such a mechanism was in place, the governments were directed to disclose the number of complaints received so far, issues redressed and the manner in which the authorities concerned had dealt with them.
Additional Solicitor General G. Rajagopal and State Government Pleader V. Jayaprakash Narayan were directed to ensure that the responses of the Centre and the State government are filed within a week, “in view of the situation being of emergent and urgent nature”.
Earlier, advocate Balan Haridas, representing the petitioner, urged the court to quash an April 3 Government Order, which stated that COVID-19 patients could get treated at private hospitals at their own cost, and consequently order treatment in all hospitals at State cost.
Wondering how the government could ‘force’ people to pay for the treatment of a pandemic, he contended that it was the duty of the State to provide free treatment.
He also argued that people who were suffering from loss of livelihood during the COVID-19 lockdown could not be expected to bear the treatment cost.