"Our hearing must make a difference": Ten questions posed by the Supreme Court during the suo motu COVID-19 matter

Even as the country continues to reel under the debilitating pandemic, the Supreme Court on Friday posed a number of questions to the Central government in the suo motu COVID-19 matter..Apart from making it abundantly clear that the authorities shall not pull up citizens who use social media to seek help for COVID-19 patients and calling into question the Centre's vaccination pricing policy, the Court sought information on a number of aspects related to the management of the pandemic..Here are ten questions the Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, L Nageswara Rao and Ravindra Bhat posed to the Central government:.1) Can a mechanism be developed to show real time updates as to how much allocation is being given so that which hospital has how much oxygen can be checked?.2) What are the restrictions like lockdown that the Centre has taken to curb spread of COVID-19 What measures have been taken to make sure supply of tankers and cylinders reach? No plan in the affidavit..3) How does Central and State government enable vaccine registration for illiterates or those who don't have access to internet?.4) Will one State get priority access over another in getting the vaccines? Centre says 50 percent will be procured by states for vaccines. How will the vaccine manufacturers ensure equity?.5) Has the Centre considered invoking Section 92 of the Patents Act to grant compulsory licenses in the face of an emergency like this?.6) New variant [of COVID-19] is not getting detected in RT-PCR test. Medical centres are driving away patients without positive report or charging high sums. How is this being regulated? What is the policy in place?.7) How have testing labs been directed to track the second mutant variant of COVID-19? How is reasonable time frame met for reports?.8) How is the Centre trying to regulate the high cost being charged to admit and treat Covid patients?.9) What is being done for shortage of medical staff? How are doctors being safeguarded and treated for COVID-19. A doctor who is close to all of us in the Supreme Court said a doctor who has practiced since 1982 was unable to get a Covid bed..10) Our hearing must make a difference. Tell us how much oxygen will be made available to critical States?.Supreme Court hears suo motu case concerning COVID-19 [LIVE UPDATES].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.