The High Court on Tuesday sought response from the Kejriwal government on a petition seeking direction to hospitals and nursing homes, who have been permitted to treat COVID-19 patients, to publish on their websites the status of vacancy of beds on a daily basis so that patients are not made to run from pillar to post.
A Bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad gave two days to the Delhi government to give its reply to the petition, which has sought to make arrangements for proper treatment for COVID and non-COVID patients in hospitals here.
The direction came after Mr. Rakesh Malhotra, the petitioner, contended that there have been several instances where non-COVID patients are required to undergo surgery and other emergency procedures in the hospitals. But the hospital requires the patients to undergo a COVID-19 test before the said procedure or surgery and is unable to conduct the test as they are not permitted to do so by the State government.
Mr. Malhotra also urged the court to issue a direction to enlarge the number of laboratories that can undertake COVID-19 tests and ramp up the testing process.
In his petition,he had also raised the issue of delay in furnishing reports. He had contended that due to the delay, contact-tracing is also getting delayed and the infection is multiplying rapidly in Delhi.
The High Court had earlier directed the Kejriwal government to ensure that test samples sent to the accredited labs are processed swiftly and the results declared within 24-48 hours.