Delhi High Court pulls up Delhi government for poor health infrastructure in Delhi hospitals

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday expressed serious concerns with the lack over health infrastructure in Delhi’s hospitals and pulled up the government for its failure to ensure that facilities like MRI and CT scan are operational..A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora orally hinted that it may also consider constituting a committee of doctors to examine the hospitals of Delhi and suggest steps to improve the infrastructure situation.Acting Chief Justice Manmohan expressed his surprise after being told that nearly 78 percent of the posts of radiologists in the Delhi government hospitals were vacant.The Bench was also informed that there is a hospital in Dwarka that has a sanctioned strength of 450 nurses out of which almost 300 positions were vacant. Owing to the lack of personnel, the 1,200-bed hospital was reduced to 250 beds, the Court was told. The Court examined a detailed report filed by the Delhi government and remarked that the data presents a very ‘hunky-dory’ picture, but not everything was working on the ground.“We want to help you in fixing things but it does not seem that you are giving us the correct picture. This data says your machines are working when it is not working on the ground. We are trying to ensure that the infrastructure required is working. We do not want to enter the blame game. From here everything looks hunky dory,” the Bench remarked..The Court noted that from the report, a major issue appeared to be a lack of personnel.It, therefore, impleaded Delhi government’s services department, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) as parties to the case and issued notices to them.The Court also ordered the Delhi government’s Principal Secretary (Health) to remain personally present in the Court and listed the case for further hearing on February 5..The Court passed the order while hearing two Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petitions concerned with the issue of medical infrastructure in the national capital.Amicus curiae Ashok Agrawal had moved an application in the case, bringing to the Court’s notice an incident where a man who jumped out of a moving police van died after the denial of treatment by four government hospitals.