Delhi High Court pulls up Delhi government over shortage of doctors, qualified staff in city hospitals

The Delhi High Court on Friday pulled up the Delhi government for not recruiting the necessary qualified doctors and staff at government hospitals.

A bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora noted that due to the inadequate recruitment of qualified staff, valuable equipment was also going unused.

"There are no technicians running these equipments. The court is completely dissatisfied with the report placed on record. The hospitals are facing enormous difficulty in recruiting the necessary doctors and the staff. There is no uniform HR policy of the Delhi Government," the Court said.

The Court went on to observe,

“Judges will come, judges will go, but the hospitals have to function."

The Court was hearing a suo motu case in which it routinely monitors healthcare services in the city's government hospitals. 

On August 7, the Court had expressed shock after being informed that 400 ventilators and 910 oxygen concentrators are lying unused at Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital.

The Court, in response, had directed the Secretary of the Department of Health and Family Welfare under Delhi government to hold a meeting regarding the recruitment of staff for operating such equipment.

In yesterday's hearing of the matter, the Court expressed dissatisfaction over the poor progress made since then.

"It does not appear that after the meeting had taken place on August 13, any recruitment has happened," the Court said.

It has now directed the Secretary of the Health Department to hold a fresh meeting with each hospital on the issue of recruitment.

"The Secretary, Health would have to deal with this issue in a centralised manner rather than allowing recruitment at a local level on a contractual basis. A strict timeline has to be prescribed in a centralised manner even for recruitment on a contractual basis, failing which the hospitals do not seem to be recruiting the necessary staff," the Court stated.

Meanwhile, following an interaction with a doctor, the Court noted that there are varying interpretations on constitutes unused equipment at hospitals. The Court indicated that it will delve into such aspects later, and that recruitment issues would have to be prioritised.

"First we have to focus on the staff, then we have to focus on the equipment. Otherwise, it is not going to work," Justice Singh said.

Another issue discussed was the availibility of ICU beds and whether people have information regarding the same. The Court observed that there is a shortage of ICU beds, even at leading hospitals.

Delhi government standing counsel Sameer Vashisht, meanwhile, informed the Court that a designated toll-free helpline number - 102 - has been created for getting information regarding the availability of ICU beds in Delhi hospitals.

Justice Singh asked a government officer to call on the helpline during the hearing before the Court. When the call went unattended, the Court proceeded to seek details of the number of operators manning such calls.

The Court was informed that there are 30 phone lines and 30 operators who are operating the helpline, while the total calls received on the number are around 2,200 per day.

The Court expressed that this was not enough, and that there is a need to scale up the number of helpline operators.

"There are only 30 lines? Itna nahi ho payega (this won't be enough). Delhi is 3.5 crores. This is not sufficient. Imagine emergency me log phone kare jaa rahe hain and phone hi nahi mil raha (Imagine if someone calls in an emergency and no one picks up the phone)," the Court pointed out.

The Court proceeded to order,

"If the lines need to be increased and operators also, a feedback shall be given to the Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department. Let a status report be filed in this regard."

The Delhi government's counsel also apprised the Court that a referral coordinator has been designated to assist in cases where a patient is referred to another government hospital.

The Court observed that at least three coordinators are required at each hospital.

"One referral coordinator is not enough There need to be at least three referral coordinators," the Court said.

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