Take prompt decision to resume normal services in hospitals: HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Tuesday said it is expected that the Delhi government will take a prompt decision to operationalise services that were suspended in government hospitals here amid the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases.

The court said a prompt decision be taken so that people ailing from other diseases can also get medical treatment.

The position regarding the working of government hospitals is that on account of the current wave of the pandemic, several facilities and departments in the government hospitals are not functioning.

Looking to the reduced prevalence of the COVID-19 disease and the falling numbers as well as the positivity rate, it is hoped that the Delhi government would take prompt decision to make all facilities in government hospitals operational so that people ailing from other diseases can get treatment and resume their treatment, a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said after perusing a status report filed by the state government.

The Delhi government's status report also deals with various aspects, including ex-gratia to kin of victims of COVID-19, the status of bed escalation,

hospital bed position being updated on daily basis on delhifightscorona.in.

The high court, on its own, has revived a disposed of petition in 2020 filed by advocate Rakesh Malhotra related to COVID-19 testings and infrastructure, noting that the virus has raised its ugly head once again and the pandemic is raging with much greater intensity and "it is evident that the healthcare infrastructure is at the stage of imminent collapse"

Regarding the functioning of a COVID-19 dedicated facility at 1241-bedded Indira Gandhi Hospital, senior advocate Rahul Mehra, representing the Delhi government, said the proposal for 1855 additional staff has been rejected by the administrative department of the government itself.