A patient waits outside a hospital in New Delhi. (Express Photo: Tashi Tobgyal) The Delhi High Court on Friday said that it is a “complete failure of the State” that everything including hospital beds and medical oxygen is in short supply. It is a war and not a battle, said the court regarding the ongoing COVID-19 situation in the national capital.
Without referring to any particular government, the division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli observed that the country is witnessing a huge surge in infections, which has impacted the entire medical system. “Nobody could have imagined it would attack us this way,” said the court.
It added that there is a problem of infrastructure not being there. “There is such a great dearth of oxygen that hospitals, that have beds, have stopped admissions because they are unable to service the patients, doctors are breaking down, crying,” the court added.
The court was hearing a petition filed by a Bar Council of Delhi member. A visibly emotional Senior Advocate Ramesh Gupta, who is the chairman of the Bar Council of Delhi, said that they are completely helpless and receive hundreds of calls everyday from affected lawyers.
“We have made arrangements with a private guesthouse. They are agreeing to provide all the facilities including doctors but they cannot have a provision of ICU. We want the guest house, which is having 53-55 beds, may be attached to a hospital. We do not need anything. We do not need money. We only need attachment so that patients in case of serious emergency can be shifted to ICU,” Gupta told the court.
The court said, “We understand your pain. We are going through it ourselves everyday” and asked the government counsel to seek instructions. The bench will resume hearing in the cases related to the COVID-19 situation around 2:30 PM.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
