Thota Suresh Babu, a Guntur-based social worker, filed a PIL in the High Court seeking a declaration of the alleged inaction of the Central and the State governments that led to rampant profiteering by private corporate hospitals in the treatment of COVID patients in the State and non-provision of cashless treatment to which they are entitled to as the buyers of insurance products, as illegal and violative of the fundamental rights.

The petitioner’s counsel N. Srinivasa Rao said the Central government had laid down clear guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of persons suffering from COVID but there have been glaring lapses in their implementation.

Private hospitals have been fleecing the public in the name of treatment as the governments turned a blind eye to the exploitation of the hapless patients.

Adequate infrastructure has not been provided in COVID centres leading to a chaotic situation right from admitting patients to transporting and disposing of the bodies of those who died of the disease. The insensitivity in dealing with patients is palpable, the petitioner argued and sought directions to pay a compensation of ₹7 lakh each to the bereaved families under the National Disaster Management Act, 2005.