Set your house in order, we can’t let people die, HC tells Delhi govt

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Tuesday pulled up the Delhi government for not being able to address the issue of hoarding and black marketing of Covid-19 resources in the capital.
The court said the government was failing to monitor oxygen distribution among hospitals and not doing anything when large amounts of essential medicines were being hoarded.

“Set your house in order. Enough is enough. If you can’t, we will ask the central government officers to take over. We can’t let people die like this,” said the court.
It directed the Delhi gover nment to infor m it about the number of deaths in city hospitals owing to shortage of oxygen. “The particulars of all such deaths, i.e. the name of the patient, the ward/ room in which they were admitted, the time of death and the reason of death should be indicated in a tabular form. The affidavit in this regard will be filed within four days. We have to also compensate all these persons who have died due to shortage of oxygen,” the court said.
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The bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli noted that in the prevailing crisis, all of us were required to show the “best human quality” and not “become vultures”. A city hospital had earlier stated that Delhi government had issued a circular on April 25 asking hospitals to attend to emergency patients within 10 minutes. This, it claimed, was posing a huge problem as the oxygen in emergency wasn’t accounted for and the hospital was overflowing with patients. Pictures with patients sharing a single bed were put up before the court. Taking note, the bench said that there seemed to be some disconnect. “You are just passing orders, instructions as if you are living in a completely different world. You don’t know what the ground reality is,” the court stated.
It said circulars “that are meaningless and can lead to other legal complications for hospitals and nursing homes” should not be issued. “If there is a specific instance of any hospital or nursing home not performing its duties in these times, action may be called for, but issuance of such like general circulars, which in present times are not only difficult but practically impossible to comply with, and only create anxiety in the minds of those serving in hospitals, nursing homes, should be avoided,” it noted.
On the issue of oxygen distribution among smaller hospitals and nursing homes, the court didn’t seem happy with the existing mechanism. “It is clear to us that GNCTD has to pull up its socks to address the distribution of not only liquid oxygen to larger hospitals but also the oxygen cylinders used by various smaller hospitals and nursing homes apart from individuals,” the bench said.
It was observed that currently, after supplying tonnes and tonnes of liquid medical oxygen to these refillers and converters, there was no account of the quantity being subsequently supplied to hospitals and nursing homes. “They appear to be holding large stocks of liquid oxygen but not supplying the same to the hospitals, nursing homes and individuals. This is what is leading to, if we may say, an artificial shortage on the one hand, and black marketing on the other hand,” said the court. “The (reason for the) reluctance of the gas refillers in complying with the directives in providing the required information appears to be that they don’t want to maintain transparency.” It also directed that in case any re-filler didn’t provide the requisite data on Delhi government’s website cfwcst.delhi.gov.in, strict action would be taken against them “not only by GNCDT but this court” too. “The GNCTD should inform the court about the stocks of liquid and gaseous oxygen held by the refillers as at 10am tomorrow,” it added.
When an oxygen distributor, Tarun Seth (owner of Seth Air), appeared before the court, it was learned that he alone was holding 20 MT of oxygen. The court expressed shock that this supplier wasn’t a part of Delhi government order that had the name of all oxygen distributors. The same supplier was stated to have been supplying oxygen to Maharaja Agrasen Hospital for seven years but hadn’t supplied the required quantity of 2 MT/day since April 22. When the court asked the supplier why it had stopped the supply, the distributor claimed he was asked by the hospital to give it to others. The court found this claim “completely and blatantly false”, noting that another hospital shared a similar story. "Without any accountability, they are having a field day. That is what is appearing to us," it said.
When it was brought to the court’s attention that another hospital was facing an acute shortage of oxygen and Remdesivir, the court told the Delhi government: "This has fallen entirely on you. This is a mess which you are not being able to resolve… You have ample powers… We are going to come up with a workable order. Cylinders, it seems, are not being supplied, and sold in black market. You are running the government. You are in the chair."
The court, therefore, directed the Delhi government to take over the supplying unit and run it with the employees present there. Keeping in mind the urgency of the matter, the court asked for immediate distribution of oxygen among the needy hospitals and issued a warning that it would "hang the distributor if even one life was lost".
On the issue of hoarding of essential medicines , the court noted the suggestion of the creation of an online portal that would indicate the current position of medicines from manufacturers to retailers and from retailer to distributors.
The Delhi government was, therefore, told: "The position should be updated on a realtime basis so that the aspect of availability is known to all, and transparency is maintained. This will, to a great extent, curb black marketing of essential drugs required for treatment of Covid-19. We also direct the GNCTD to call for records from all the pharmacies in the hospitals with regard to the supplies of Remdesivir and other essential drugs and the sales they have made and to conduct random audits and checks of the stocks of the pharmacies to catch black marketers."
Appearing for Delhi government, senior advocate Rahul Mehra had earlier told the court that for the first time, Delhi had crossed the 400MT barrier. "We received 407.96MT yesterday. There was 58 MT was from Jamshedpur and then three to four tankers came from JSPL — this really gave impetus to the previous 300MT. We are expecting intervention and proactive approach of the Centre. The situation will not deteriorate," he said. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, meanwhile, told the court: "The Delhi government has tried to procure tankers from Bangkok and requested the Centre for Indian Air Force planes. I had a word with the home minister and home secretary. We will provide. These aircraft used to bring empty tankers. Right now, these aircraft are being used continuously in the current situation. It would be subject to that priority and Delhi government should give us the bill of lading."