[COVID-19] Pained that orders are being completely ignored: Gujarat High Court asks why real-time updates on hospital beds are not available

The hearing in the suo motu case concerning the COVID-19 situation in Gujarat today saw the Gujarat High Court express concern that its earlier directions to upload online, real-time updates on hospital bed vacancies are being ignored by the concerned corporation authorities. .A Bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Bhargav D Karia today posed questions on this aspect to Senior Advocate Mihir Joshi, who applied for the corporation authorities. .Chief Justice Nath observed today that the Court has been asking for the uploading of real-time information in at least three orders passed so far."We have been wanting a dashboard with complete information of the hospitals on a real-time basis as and when a patient is admitted...as soon as a patient is discharged…For the last three orders, we have been mentioning, right from day 1…till today nothing has been done by the corporation or the State government....We are slightly, very pained at the State’s approach and the corporation’s approach. Orders passed by the court are being completely ignored...That is the feeling that we have," he went on to note..Joshi informed the Court today that such data is available with the Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (AHNA), which is now linked to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) website. .The Bench noted that this data is only updated twice a day and not on a real-time basis, while in other corporations, the information is available real-time. ."While is Ahmedabad lagging behind?" the Court queried..Whereas Joshi assured the Court that the AMC is trying its best, the Bench responded, "What we are saying is not being considered at all, no response is coming.".Joshi, however, has told the Court that he can file an affidavit on instructions he receives on this issue. .Flashing of IAS officer's number by media channel: Why no action taken so far?.Today's hearing also saw the Court pull up the State for failing to take any action against persons responsible for flashing the number of an IAS officer on visual media. .The issue was raised today by Joshi, who told the Court that broadcast of the phone number had created havoc and that the IAS officer has been receiving calls throughout the day. It was not impossible to distinguish between urgent requests and frivolous calls, he added. .Expressing disapproval over the State's failure to take any action on this issue, despite earlier orders to do so, the Court said, "An enquiry should have been done and how and why did he do it. What is his responsibility? If you are not being responsible in running a news channel, then your channel should be shut down immediately... we said all these things on that day also.".Take action against news channel which put out phone numbers of IAS officers: Gujarat High Court during suo motu COVID hearing.The Court added that it was not as if the concerned officials were unaware of the Court's directions on this aspect."...we also want an explanation as to why no action was taken till now...Our proceedings are being watched by not only the State officers... it is available on YouTube... it is not that this is not within the knowledge of the State officers," the Bench remarked. .Advocate General Kamal Trivedi assured the Court that the needful would be done in the matter. .Other highlights of the hearing.Remdesivir: The Court has asked the State to submit a chart on the allocation and distribution of Remdesivir to various districts of Gujarat in the last one month or so. This was in view of concerns that not enough Remdesivir is being allocated to districts other from Ahmedabad. The State today asserted that the distribution is being done on the basis of demands raised and the severity of the infection. It added that the needs change every day and that all Remdesivir allocated on a particular day is exhausted after distribution. .Oxygen: The State informed the Court today that it proposes to open 32 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plants in 22 hospitals in Gujarat to tide over the present oxygen shortage situation. However, a key ingredient required to produce oxygen has to be imported from Germany, which would at least take 2-3 months. Therefore, even if the PSA plants are opened in the next two weeks, it is unlikely that oxygen can be produced..108 Ambulance policy: The Court was informed that the earlier policy of admission to corporation hospitals only through 108 ambulances has been withdrawn. Joshi asserted that this centralised policy had a rationale at the time, that it was only for free beds and keeping in mind persons who rely on such ambulances or require free beds. The Bench, however, commented that the system appeared to have been a failure, given that people were even made to wait for 48 hours with no response from the ambulance service. Joshi responded that there was a need to increase the number of ambulances. In any case, in view of the Court's earlier observations, the policy has been withdrawn. Given that this system was only following in corporation hospitals and not the State's civil hospitals, the Court has also observed that the State and the AMC appeared to have been following different policies. The Bench has cautioned the State over the apparent lack of supervision and emphasised that the Corporation cannot act on its own. .Other issues taken up during the hearing today included: RT-PCR testing, COVID-19 vaccine availability, Physical infrastructure at hospitals, Continuation of the Integrated Child Development scheme, Facilities for children in special homes and juvenile homes, Testing of women in Nari Niketans, Reservation of beds for COVID-19 patients, Concerns over how family members are to know of the condition of COVID-19 patients, Creation of a hotline for alerting any instance of black marketing etc. .The State today also hinted that restrictions already put in place for the period between April 28 and May 6 may be extended further. A decision on this aspect is likely to be taken today, AG Trivedi submitted. .Read a Live Account of the hearing:.COVID-19: Gujarat High Court hears suo motu case [LIVE UPDATES]