No patient will be denied treatment at GTB Hospital: Govt assures HC

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Thursday assured the Delhi High Court that no patient would be denied treatment at the government-run GTB Hospital, where it has started a pilot project under which residents of the national capital are to be given preference over others.

The Delhi government informed a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao that emergency, out patient and testing facilities were not being denied to anyone as was being claimed in a PIL filed in the court.

The submission was made by the government's senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra who pleaded before the court not to pass interim directions, and take up the matter on October 8. The bench, however, asked "why not keep it (project) in abeyance till Monday (October 8)?"

In response, Mehra said things were being shown to the court "in a coloured manner" and sought time till October 8 to place the facts on record.

Earlier in the day, the court had expressed disapproval regarding the project and indicated that it was inclined to put it on hold. The bench, however, gave the government time till afternoon to decide whether it intended to go ahead with the project.

In the evening, when the court said it will hear the matter tomorrow, Mehra sought time till October 8 and said no one will be denied treatment at the hospital till then.