Centre Delhi spar over beds HC asks where are the docs

  • | Monday | 10th May, 2021

Rao further told the bench that the Delhi government should propose a centralised allocation of beds. Meanwhile, pointing to the dip in the number of beds provided by the Centre as compared to earlier, senior advocate Rahul Mehra, on behalf of Delhi government, submitted: "...as of today, the total number of Covid beds of Centre are 3,861. Mehra further told the court there have been no beds provided by the centre "despite it being the worst possible pandemic'. At this point, petitioner Rakesh Malhotra told the court that beds have also been reduced at the Trauma Centre in AIIMS Jhajjar. The counsel also told the court that out of 592 ICU beds, 591 beds are occupied in Delhi government hospitals.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the Centres response on the aspect of the number of beds available for Covid-19 patients in Central government facilities after the Delhi government told the court that a sufficient number of beds arent vacant in such facilities in the capital. A division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli, who have been hearing a batch of petitions pertaining to the Covid-19 situation in the capital, told the Centre to examine this aspect and file a response on the next date of hearing after the amicus curiae in the case, senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao, told the court that there was a mismatch between the data that is available on the number of beds available for Covid patients on the website and the actual number of beds that are available. Rao told the court, "There is a huge gap on information and the beds available...there was an eye hospital having 50 beds available on Friday night but those were only for those patients who were recovering...most of these hospitals...rarely do they answer the phone…the only person who answered the call was at DRDO..." In response to this, court stated that the number of vacant beds are not being verified by the hospitals and they are simply being uploaded on the website. Rao further told the bench that the Delhi government should propose a centralised allocation of beds. Meanwhile, pointing to the dip in the number of beds provided by the Centre as compared to earlier, senior advocate Rahul Mehra, on behalf of Delhi government, submitted: "...as of today, the total number of Covid beds of Centre are 3,861. Beds have only come down instead of going up". Mehra further told the court there have been no beds provided by the centre "despite it being the worst possible pandemic. "The officer had come saying that these beds are dedicated to Delhi...answer still hasnt come...we still dont have beds from Centre…we can have 4,000 to 7,000 beds..." Mehra argued. At this point, petitioner Rakesh Malhotra told the court that beds have also been reduced at the Trauma Centre in AIIMS Jhajjar. "These are beds and capacity that are available...with due respect to all doctors in central government hospitals...they should also participate...both state and central government should do a similar exercise…we are working closely with them, doing whatever we can..." Mehra submitted. The counsel also told the court that out of 592 ICU beds, 591 beds are occupied in Delhi government hospitals. Thereafter, the court recorded Mehras submission and directed the Centre to look into the aspect and disclose the number of beds available in central government facilities in categories. The matter will next be taken up on May 13. During the hearing, the bench also lashed out at the Delhi government for seemingly not putting in the effort to augment healthcare workers. At one point, the bench said, "This is the time when you need more doctors. What is the point of having more beds if there are not sufficient doctors." In addition, the high court directed the hospitals in the city to update the number of occupied and vacant beds every two hours, saying it was not difficult to do and was needed for government officials to coordinate hospital admissions in time for those waiting in line.

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