"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]

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

Aditya AK

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