The Delhi High Court has taken on record the Delhi government’s decision to raise the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) income limit for free treatment in hospitals from Rs.2.25 lakh to Rs.5 lakh, while sharply criticising persistent delays in diagnostics, digital health systems, and staffing that it warned could jeopardise patient lives across the Capital.
The matter arose in a batch of public interest cases monitoring the state of healthcare services in Delhi, where the Court had earlier expressed concern over long waiting periods for radiological tests, slow rollout of the NextGen e-Hospital application, and incomplete implementation of the Dr. S.K. Sarin Committee recommendations. In compliance with prior directions, the Health Secretary, GNCTD, appeared before the Court and confirmed that the competent authority had approved enhancement of the EWS threshold, making a significantly larger section of Delhi’s population eligible for free treatment in government hospitals and designated private hospitals built on concessional land.
The Bench noted that delays in basic services such as MRI, CT scans and digital hospital systems were “completely unacceptable”, observing that the failure to operationalise critical healthcare infrastructure was undermining emergency medical care. Recording the enhanced EWS limit, the Court directed that it be implemented across all applicable hospitals with adequate public awareness, and stressed that “the lives of citizens” could be put at risk if recruitment, diagnostics and digital health reforms continued to move at a sluggish pace.
The Court issued a series of binding directions to fast-track recruitment through UPSC and DSSSB, finalise bids for radiological services, complete pending HMIS modules by stipulated deadlines, and submit detailed status reports on diagnostics, infrastructure projects, and health schemes. The matter has been listed for further monitoring.
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