Can't put patients on the floor, we need more hospitals and better infrastructure: Delhi HC

New Delhi: Taking note of the current medical infrastructure in Delhi, the High Court bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna observed that the city needs more hospitals and additional beds.

The bench was considering a plea on the shortage of patient-related facilities in government hospitals. The case was initiated suo motu in 2017 wherein the bench was monitoring the steps being taken to improve the condition and facilities of government hospitals.

Referring to the pressure on the current medical infrastructure in Delhi, the court told the counsel for the Delhi Government that "we need giant strides not baby steps".

Further, the bench sought to know the stand of the Centre and Delhi Government on the tragic death of a 14-year-old girl battling blood cancer recently. Allegedly, she was denied a bed or treatment in three hospitals including AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, and Delhi State Cancer Institute.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj took cognizance of the death of the 14-year-old girl and wrote a letter to Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, the Governing Council that manages the Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI), to reply within four weeks as to why the patient was denied bed or treatment at AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital and Delhi State Cancer Institute.

As per the latest media report by Economic Times, the bench told the amicus curiae in the suo motu case, advocate Ashok Aggarwal that there is little that the hospitals can do in the absence of beds. After Aggarwal pressed the bench to demand answers from authorities on the death of the cancer patient.

"They can’t put patients on the floor, we need more hospitals and better infrastructure," observed the bench at this outset. Apart from this, the bench also asked the Government to take into account the suggestions made by Aggarwal and examine them before filling a fresh status report.

The Daily adds that an expert committee had informed the Court that nine hospitals run by the State Government lack ICU facilities, It mentioned that there were 11,473 beds in the hospitals under the Delhi Government, but there were only 1,396 ICU/ventilator beds. In case of nine hospitals, there were no ICU beds.

Further, referring to the available data, the panel had mentioned that only approximately 7% ICU beds were available against the ideal situation of 10%. It recommended that in order to increase the strength to 10%, more manpower is required to operate the ICU/ventilators.

As per the panel, there was a shortage of doctors of anesthesia in Delhi government hospitals while ICU remained a "neglected unit". In one of the hearings initially, the amicus curiae highlighted the "abysmal" situation where for 10,059 beds, only 400 ICU beds with ventilators were available in government hospitals, out of which 52 ventilators were not functional.

Also Read: Delhi HC slams Delhi Medical Council, says Public must know whether person calling self an MD is actually holding that degree or not