There is need for hospital beds to be reserved for people of certain categories: Delhi HC

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court, while hearing a plea on Friday, observed that there is a need for the beds to be reserved in hospitals for people of certain categories like President and the Prime Minister.

A Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh, while hearing a plea seeking fair and transparent system for the allocation of beds to COVID-19 patients in hospitals in the national capital, tagged the petition with other matters relating to COVID issues being heard by the Bench.

The Court also noted that now there is a lot of beds available and there is no scarcity of them.

Earlier, the High Court had asked the Delhi government to file a reply on a petition seeking to create "an accountable, fair, and transparent mechanism" for allocating beds to COVID-19 patients in hospitals.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Manjit Singh. Senior advocate Vivek Sood and lawyer Anish Chawla appeared for him in the court.

The petitioner also sought directions to the respondent for setting up a centralised agency along with helpdesks outside every COVID-19 hospital in Delhi for helping the patients locate a bed in another hospital if they cannot be admitted in that particular hospital.

The petitioner submitted that even in this health crisis, the Delhi hospitals are following a deplorable VIP culture.

"Thus, in order to overcome the said 'VIP culture' and to ensure fairness and transparency, there should be a mechanism to ensure fair allocation of the hospital beds to common man," the petition said.

"The hospitals should be obliged to maintain a record wherein the name of the patient and time of seeking a bed in that hospital should be recorded. In case the patient is refused admission, the reason for not providing the bed to the person should also be recorded," the petition said, adding that this will not only ensure transparency but also make the hospitals accountable for refusing a person who has approached the hospital.

"In the present situation of health emergency, where the demand for hospital beds is more than supply, there should be some mechanism to ensure that allocation of beds to COVID-19 patients in the hospitals across the city is not arbitrary and unreasonable but rather a record/data should be maintained for refusal of beds to the patients. The mechanism of bed allocation may depend on necessity, 'first come first serve' basis, geographical convenience of COVID-19 patients or other factors," the petition said.

"However, no patient should be refused a hospital bed merely for the reason that the same is being reserved unofficially for VIPs who are not even in the immediate need of the same," it added.

The Court adjourned hearing of the petition till May 24.