People don't have information, State's data appears to indicate that beds exceed COVID-19 patients: Patna High Court pulls up Bihar Govt

The Patna High Court on Thursday expressed concern over the management of the second wave of COVID-19 in the State of Bihar, noting that media reports appear to portray a gloomy picture of an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases while patients run helter-skelter to find beds in private and government hospitals. .Though the Principal Secretary, Health Department, Government of Bihar Pratyaya Amrit apprised the Court of various steps taken by the State and the available infrastructure to tackle the crisis, the Court expressed dissatisfaction over the data presented.."The data so presented give a different picture altogether. If the said data and statistics, as presented, are taken to be correct, the number of beds available in the State of Bihar is much more than the number of patients who require admission in COVID Care Centres (CCC), Dedicated COVID Health Centres (DCHS) and Dedicated COVID Hospitals (DCH), except for Patna," the Court said. Prima facie we are not satisfied with the said depiction, it added."In any event, it has transpired during the hearing of the present proceedings that CCCs and DCHS are ill equipped," the order further noted. .The matter was taken up on an urgent basis by the Bench of Justices Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Mohit Kumar Shah on the orders of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol, considering the gravity of the prevailing situation. .Notably, the Court directed the State to conduct daily press briefings on the COVID-19 situation, upon noting that the public appears to be unaware of the infrastructure facilities presently available in the State for COVID patients. ."There is no gainsaying, however, that the people at large do not have the requisite information about the availability of the aforesaid facilities which the State Government is said to have provided," the Court's order said..The Court, therefore, directed the Principal Secretary, Health Department to bring such information to the public domain through media. The Court asked the State to ensure that a press briefing is conducted at least once a day at a fixed time disclosing facts on the number of COVID-19 cases, the infrastructure available at various places and other cogent information required to be disseminated in public interest. .As per reports, COVID-19 beds in Patna's government hospitals are full, the Court observed. The Bench also referred to reports of umpteen difficulties being faced by patients to gain admission even into private hospitals authorised to treat COVID patients. ."Newspaper reports, though depict a very alarming and scary picture of the entire situation, having potential to expose the ground realities of health care system in the State, nonetheless, such reports cannot be made the sole basis for this Court to interfere and issue directions, exercising powers of judicial review under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The reports, however, certainly raise serious issues of immense public interest touching fundamental rights of the citizens, cognizance of which has been taken by Hon’ble the Chief Justice," the Court said. .The Court added that it is mindful that the task of tackling the COVID-19 spike is primarily an executive function. All the same, the Bench opined that it is duty-bound as a Constitutional Court to invoke the powers of judicial review in this matter. The Court cannot afford to overlook palpable violation of fundamental rights of life and equality of citizens enshrined under Articles 21 and 14 respectively of the Constitution of India, the Bench said. .Other issues and suggestions raised by the Court during the hearing include:.Scarcity of oxygen in various hospitals in Bihar owing to which there is a rush for procuring oxygen cylinders, which in turn has created a situation for the black-marketing of oxygen cylinders. The Court was informed by the State that a High Level Committee is already looking into this aspect and that this problem is likely to be resolved soon and, in any case, by Saturday (April 17). Dedicated COVID Health Centres do not have X-ray facilities and they depend on such facilities available with Sadar Hospitals of the area: The State Government has been directed to ensure that all Dedicated COVID Health Centres be equipped with portable X-ray machines as quickly as possible. If required, specific orders in this regard may be passed today, i.e. Saturday (April 17). The Court suggested that the State should consider utilising facilities available in the premises of the newly established Medanta Hospital in PPE mode at Kankarbagh to meet the emergent situation. The State Government should also consider initiating process for acquiring CT Scan machines for Sadar Hospitals/ Dedicated COVID Health Centres in each District of the State of Bihar..The matter will be taken up later today at 4.30 pm when the Court wants the State to appraise it on the following aspects:.Whether COVID kits are being given to those who have tested positive for the virus? The Bench had been told that when person tests positive after the RT-PCR test, the State Government provides such patient a COVID kit. The Court noted that some officers and staff of the High Court have tested COVID positive. As such, the Registrar General has been asked to submit a report as to whether such officers/ staff have been provided with COVID kits or not. The Principal Secretary, Health Department is to inform the Court about the steps taken to improve healthcare facilities, the comprehensive action plan prepared by the State government to tackle the second wave of COVID-19 and to make aware public in general about the availability of such facilities to curb unnecessary panic among the public. The Health Secretary is also required to inform the Court about the facilities which the State Government provides for such persons who test positive but who do not have any serious symptoms for the purpose of hospitalisation. Additional Solicitor General of India, Dr KN Singh has been asked to seek instructions from the Central Government regarding issues that have emerged in relation to providing facilities at ESIC Hospital, Bhita, Patna and enhancing facilities at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna. The Centre has been requested to report back on the mode and manner in which it is willing to assist the Bihar Government to tide over COVID-19 situation..Additional Advocate General Anjani Kumar appeared for the State of Bihar. Advocates Sumit Kumar Singh and Shivani Kaushik appeared for petitioners in the matter. Advocate Bindhyachal Rai appeared for the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital. Advocate Binita Singh appeared for the Central Pollution Control Board. Advocate Ravindra Kumar Priyadarshi appeared for the Gaya Municipal Corporation and Advocate..[Read Order]