Delhi Govt defended its decision to reserve 80% ICU capacity exclusively for Coronavirus patients in private hospitals before the High Court of Delhi on Friday & said that petition filed by private hospital association was an attempt to secure the financial interests of the member hospitals.
Countering the plea filed by Association of Healthcare Providers India challenging the local Govt decision, the Delhi Govt said, "The association plea is wholly misplaced, baseless & an attempt on the part of the petitioner to mislead the court & looking to secure the financial interests of the member hospitals under the garb of expressing masked concerns over securing healthcare facilities for Non-Covid patients, to be able to levy arbitrary & exorbitant medical treatment fee & other such charges from critical COVID-19 patients."
In an affidavit filed through Delhi Govt Standing Counsel Sanjoy Ghose & Lawyer Urvi Mohan, the Govt reiterated that the decision only covers 33 subject private hospitals & nursing homes, out of over 1,150 private nursing homes & hospitals across the national capital city.
The Govt's affidavit reads, "It is relevant to reiterate that the decision to issue & implement the GNCTD Order was in fact, taken after prior discussion & intimation to all subject 33 hospitals, during a meeting held over video conferencing. It is also relevant to note during this meeting, wherein over 25 of the 33 subject hospitals had participated, none of the hospitals protested and/or objected to the said decision of the Answering Respondent. All averments of the Petitioner association suggesting anything to the contrary, are therefore liable to be rejected at the outset".
The Govt said that the pandemic is a dynamic crisis which needs to be dealt with by the state authorities on a real-time basis.
The Delhi Govt urged the High Court of Delhi to dismiss the plea filed by Association of Healthcare Providers India as it deserves no consideration. However, Delhi Govt submitted that it is always ready, willing & duty-bound to abide by all directions passed by the Court, from time to time.
A single-judge bench of Justice Navin Chawla asked the Association of Healthcare Providers India to file rejoinder on the plea & listed the matter for November 18.
The Single-Judge bench had issued the interim stay on a plea filed by the Association of Healthcare Providers India through Lawyers Sanyam Khetarpal & Narita Yadav alleging that the Delhi Govt order was passed in an arbitrary, unfair & illegal manner without realizing the difficulties that may be faced by private nursing homes & hospitals.
It also said that the order has been issued without any prior discussions with private hospitals to understand the current demand-supply situation of critical care beds. The plea also stated that the order is exposing non-COVID-19 patients to the risk of COVID-19.
The plea had said that "Reserving 80 per cent ICU beds will deny urgent care to seriously ill patients, requiring vital surgical interventions & critical care. These beds, which may constitute 15 per cent to 20 per cent of overall ICU bed capacity in some of the hospitals, are not usable for COVID-19 patients since very rarely does a COVID-19 patient of that age requires critical care".
Source Link
Picture Source :
