HC asks Delhi govt to consider as representation plea for quashing order reserving private hospital beds for COVID patients

Jun 03, 2020

New Delhi [India], June 3 : The Delhi High Court, while disposing of a petition seeking quashing of Delhi government's order reserving 20 per cent beds in private hospitals for treatment of COVID-19 patients, asked Delhi government to consider the plea as a representation.
A division bench presided by Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan asked Delhi government to treat the petition filed through advocate Gaurav Bansal as a representation.
The plea, filed by senior cancer surgeon Dr Anshuman Kumar, sought quashing of the Delhi government order in the matter claiming that the same would turn these hospitals into a "super spreader" of the disease.
The Delhi government, vide it's May 24 order, had directed private hospitals and nursing homes to reserve at least 20 percent of their total bed strength for coronavirus patients.
The plea had also said that under normal circumstances, hospitals are organized to deliver patient-centric care, however, during the pandemic, there is a need to turn the said approach into community-focused care.
It said that at a time when the immunity of patients admitted in the said 117 private hospitals in the national capital is already compromised due to their ailments, the steps of the respondent to mix non-COVID patients with COVID patients will worsen the situation.