Coronavirus | Gujarat HC pulls up State govt. on availability of hospital beds

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday informed the State authorities that regardless of the latter’s claims on the availability of beds within the State, sufferers ailing from COVID-19 continued to face a scarcity resulting in a scramble for beds in cities like Ahmedabad.

The Bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Bhargav Karia, throughout a listening to of the suo motu petition on the COVID-19 pandemic disaster within the State, sought to know why, if beds have been vacant, contaminated individuals have been unable to get admitted to hospitals.

In its submission on Tuesday, the State authorities knowledgeable the court docket that of the 79,944 beds at COVID-19 hospitals and different care services within the State, 55,783 beds have been occupied whereas the remaining have been vacant.

The State authorities’s lawyer Manisha Shah made the submission throughout a web based listening to on the suo motu proceedings initiated by the court docket after the second wave of the pandemic started overwhelming Gujarat’s well being infrastructure.

“Complaints are coming, maybe you are also receiving [complaints] that patients are not being admitted because there is no vacancy in hospitals. Beds are not available. The figures shared by you suggest that even designated hospitals have vacant beds,” the Bench informed the State. “If that is true then why are people running around, finding sources and recommendations for getting hospitals beds and treatment?”

The court docket additionally raised issues over claims that ‘108’ ambulances have been taking appreciable time to select up sufferers in a crucial situation, because the ready interval for them ran to a number of hours now.

The court docket additionally sought to know why crucial sufferers weren’t taken in by authorities hospitals in the event that they arrived in personal autos as a substitute of ‘108’ ambulances.

In the federal government’s defence, Ms. Shah mentioned that though beds have been obtainable at different services, some have been at a distance from sufferers’ houses, and other people wished to get admitted to particular hospitals, which resulted in full occupancy in these hospitals.

Ms. Shah additionally assured the court docket that the federal government has ensured ample provide of medical oxygen and there was no shortage of the life-saving gasoline at current.

A particular management room has been set up on the Chief Minister’s Office to observe oxygen provide to hospitals, she knowledgeable the court docket in the course of the listening to.

On a question raised by the Bench about RT-PCR testing, Ms. Shah knowledgeable that each one districts had the ability to conduct the assessments and the federal government carried out a mean of 1.65 lakh assessments, together with round 75,000 RT-PCR assessments, that are thought of extra correct than the fast antigen take a look at.

Senior advocate Percy Kavina, who was allowed to share the views of different High Court attorneys, expressed displeasure over the Centre’s resolution to discontinue a scheme offering insurance coverage cowl to “corona warriors” underneath the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKP).

“Only 287 insurance claims were processed under the PMGKP, which is now being shut. Just 287 claims across the country? Though the new scheme is coming, why not continue the PMGKP?” Ms. Kavina requested.

After listening to all submissions, the court docket requested the federal government to file an affidavit and scheduled the subsequent listening to on April 27.