HC notice to Centre, Delhi Govt on recruitment of doctors, paramedics in Govt hospitals

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Centre, the Delhi Government and others on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction for the immediate appointment of doctors and paramedical staff in the government-run hospitals like AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital etc including local bodies as well as in Mohalla clinics on urgent basis against their sanctioned vacancies.

The bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh doubt response of all the respondents through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of NCT of Delhi, All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Safdarjung Hospital, and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and slated the matter for January 12, 2022.

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The petitioner Dr Nand Kishore Garg through Advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi stated that there has been an acute shortage of doctors and paramedical staff in the government-run hospitals which have been worsening with each passing of the day. The innocent and poor patients are being denied their treatment on account of an acute shortage of doctors and paramedical staff including misinformation about the availability of relevant infrastructure and specialized doctors.

The plea also stated that the Centre Government and Delhi Government had also not constituted any committee or commission to look into the aspects in areas of omission which led to deaths of innocent citizens of NCT of Delhi and the responsible person are still enjoying their job without being held accountable to the social crime of not being able to provide the innocent citizens of the state bare minimum requirement the availability of doctors in the government hospitals.

It is submitted in the petition that private hospitals are taking illegal advantage of the plight of helpless patients. There are several cases where the doctors of the government hospitals are referring the patient to the private hospitals, citing the lack of infrastructure in the government hospitals, said the plea.

The plea stated that it is evident that the government hospitals are completely ill-equipped to tackle the recent epidemic of coronavirus which is threatening to engulf the whole population, even the protective mask and sanitisers are being black marketed across the city of Delhi and are being made available at prohibiting and exorbitant prices.

The plea further stated that the government is completely insensitive to the growing requirement of quality medical services which can be reflected from the RTI reply.

"The common people are suffering on account of the non-availability of doctors or paramedical staff who are integral in providing better treatment to the patients. There is a complete lack of accountability in providing crucial services like the right to life. As such it is urgently required that holistic infrastructural overhaul is necessary to improve better medical services to the patients," read the plea. 

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