Asking private hospitals to not let up in the quality of treatment merely because money has not been forthcoming, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said, “Given the many cases that were referred to the private medical institutions by the government because of lack of space and accommodation at government facilities, it is inconceivable that a sum of Rs 20 lakh has been paid to each of the private hospitals without reference to the bed strength or the number of patients dealt with by each of the private hospitals.”

The bench made this observation in a plea moved by Democratic Youth Federation of India that private hospitals and medical colleges were charging fees from patients despite not being entitled. The petitioned mentioned Sri Venkateshwara Medical College Hospital and Research Centre.

However, finding that no money has been forthcoming from the government to the private institutions even to provide the daily diet of the patients, the bench said, “Whatever the level of scrutiny that is to be undertaken (for the bills submitted), it is inconceivable that what is essentially government duty would have been performed by private players without the government even picking up the tab on a day-after or reasonable period-after basis.”

Also, seeking the government to look into the petitioner’s allegations of undue charges being levied by private hospitals, the bench posted the plea to June 11 expressing hope that substantial payments would be released to enable the continued treatment of COVID patients.

The medical college had submitted that the territorial government owed it more than Rs 1.65 crore for treatment undertaken since 2020.