Decision to reserve 80% ICU beds for Covid patients temporary: Govt to HC

New Delhi: The Delhi government has vehemently denied before the Delhi High Court that its direction to reserve 80 per cent ICU beds in 33 private hospitals was a violation of the fundamental rights of any citizen. In an affidavit filed before the court on Thursday, the government said the step was taken as a stop-gap and temporary measure with an intent to mitigate the surge of coronavirus cases in the city.

The high court had reprimanded the Delhi government heavily for issuing such an order while hearing a petition challenging it filed by the "Association of Healthcare Providers". The court had then stayed the Delhi government's order. In an affidavit filed before Justice Navin Chawla, the Delhi government argued that the AHP's petition was wholly misplaced and baseless. The high court granted one week's time to the petitioner association to file a rejoinder to the government's affidavit and listed the matter for further hearing on November 18. The government has already challenged the single judge's stay order before a division bench which has listed it for hearing on November 27.

Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, representing the government, said there is a prediction that in the upcoming festive season, the number of COVID-19 cases will go up.

The affidavit, filed through additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose and advocate Urvi Mohan, contended that the petitioner association was looking to secure the financial interests of its member hospitals, under the garb of expressing masked concerns over securing healthcare facilities for non-COVID patients, to be able to levy arbitrary and exorbitant medical treatment fee and other such charges from critical COVID-19 patients.

The Delhi government also referred to various judicial pronouncements saying it is settled law that courts will ordinarily exercise restraint while dealing with a challenge preferred to a policy decision of the State.

It said it is not the domain of the court to embark upon the uncharted ocean of public policy in an exercise to consider as to whether a particular public policy is wise or a better

public policy can be evolved and such an exercise must be left to the discretion of the executive and legislative authorities as the case may be.

The Delhi government said several other states like Maharashtra and Odisha have also taken similar steps and put in place similar measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government said when the emergency meeting was convened by it on September 12, out of 33 private hospitals, 25 participated in it and none of them raised any protest or objection to the decision of the authorities to reserve the ICU beds.

Almost all of the 33 hospitals also started implementing the government's order with immediate effect, it claimed, adding that the order only covers 33 private hospitals and nursing homes, out of over 1,150 private nursing homes and hospitals across the city.

It said no patient, suffering from a critical illness other than COVID-19, has objected to the government's order or complained of having been deprived of necessary medical treatment.