In our orders, we have emphasized directions for the city of Bengaluru. The said directions have to be implemented in other districts where there is a rise in COVID-19 cases : Bench .Before we part with order, we must clarify, we have passed stringent orders against State. .We must clarify that there are several officers of state, doctors, nurses have done excellent job which needs to be appreciated : Bench .We must record our appreciation for efforts made by stakeholders in right direction : Bench.Those who do not have to be hospitalized but have no isolation facilities, will have to be encouraged to utilize COVID-19 centres. .State and BBMP to consider making available COVID-19 centres for those patients who do not require hospitalisation : Bench.It will be appropriate if AG convenes a meeting of various stakeholders so that State can assess situation on this class of the society. State to come out with concrete steps t help weaker sections of society by providing ration etc. : Bench.Issue of food security, relief to workers will require urgent attention. AG stated that on Saturday there will be meeting on Saturday to discuss issues. Effect of Lockdown on weaker sections of the society on unorganised labour will have to be assessed : Bench.Bench to State: Find out what benefit can be extended Mr Clifton, Madam Kothari, Find out which sectors are most affected and inform us. We will pass orders accordingly..Bench questions State on provisions of Food Security, Ration kits, unorganised labour, Transgenders etc.Bench: We are not saying anything in the order, but someday, some citizen will go to Court to seek public law remedy for violation of Rights..Orders ends. .Clifton: Centre may be directed to consider the requisition positively. .Bench: We have mentioned if they do not do so, then it is violation of the Right to Life....Bench: Decision of Centre in increasing cap of Remdesivir and oxygen to be submitted by May 3..Contin.... of ORDER .Bench: State to immediately submit requisition setting out the projected requirement of Oxygen, at least for the coming 7 days. .We direct Centre to take a decision immediately..Bench: Can you send requisition to Centre to allocate more? Past week, one day the requirement of 1400 MT .Centre: We will certainly consider it.Max utilization of Oxygen in Karnataka is 802 MT per day? Bench .State: Karnataka has massive supply of oxygen as against demand. But Centre decides on how much is to be used. If there is excess, we are directed to give to other states. .State and BBMP to display contact number of Deputy Drugs Controller outside the helpdesk of every hospital so that relatives can get Remdesivir: Bench.We direct State to make estimate of quantum of vials of Remdesivir in all hospitals and 50% beds in and submit requisition to Centre. .Direct Centre to consider the request of State for increasing allocation of remdesivir to Karnataka and take decision immediately : Bench.Remdesivir State to place on record the criteria for restricting demand of private hospitals. There has to be rational criteria that stand test of Art 14 : Bench.Already we have issued directions to set up an information help desk in hospitals. .State to immediately report the implementation of the same. It should deal with grievances of non-availability of beds: Bench.Principles laid down in DM Act, all authorities under Act are under obligation to be in state of preparedness for dealing with disaster : Bench.Bench: State will have to be in state of preparedness by keeping estimate of beds reqd in Bengaluru and other districts. Unless they do so, may not be possible to give real relief. State to place on record the steps taken to estimate beds and enhance the capacity of beds..Similar steps to be taken in Mysuru and Hubli : Bench .State to immediately hold meeting with Army and Air force officers. Hope they go out of the way in creating large number of beds : Bench .Only marginal increase in number of beds : Bench .South Western Railway is able to provide 300 beds with oxygen in Bangalore and Hubli. We direct BBMP and State to take immediate steps to contact officers and take over all beds which can be made available for people : Bench.Bench: Before we go into the issue, it is important to remind Centre and State and other agencies to fulfill their obligations to preserve the Right to life under Article 21..Today we are dealing with extra ordinary situation. Those who are infected look up to State to provide them with best possible treatment and healthcare. COVID is such a disease that requires specialised treatment : Bench.Necessary for us to remind Centre and State, it is their obligation to provide best possible treatment to all. They are ultimately dealing with Fundamental Right of Right of Life : Bench.Advocate Clifton: State govt will have to make beds available. there is no magic wand to make available beds as numbers are increasing every day.. .Bench: State of preparedness which is the basic feature of the Disaster Management Act, was not there..Senior Advocate Jayna Kothari: If there is a shortage of Remdesivir, Govt has to make an assessment of the need and accordingly provide medicine. It ultimately comes under Right to Life. .Bench: They (State) must make an assessment of the Oxygen requirement and Remdesivir. .AG for State: There are conflicting opinions on Remdesivir. But he should not have said that. ... .Court: If you are controlling orders of Remdesivir of private hospitals, there has to be some rationale..Advocate GR Mohan: There is discrimination in private hospitals, they decide to whom the medicine should be given....Advocate Vidyulatha suggests that there should be a public portal showing supply for Remdesivir. Hospitals should upload on the requirement, per patient wise..Bench: Tell us an estimate of quantity you need of Remdesivir in coming days. All this is happening because of lack of preparedness under the Disaster Management Act. We were not prepared to deal with the second wave....State: Manufacturing of Remdesivir was stopped in November. .Court: You estimate demand for Remdesivir for next 10 days. .Justice Kumar: Did you see what a chief medical officer for Victoria Hospital told? It is going viral...He is saying Remdesivir should not be given.PHANA: We are going to come with our own portal with real-time updates on beds vacancy. We will be live by tomorrow. .Bench: Are there instances where patients are sent to you by BBMP and State Govt, but you are refusing?.PHANA: No, we have nodal officer in every hospital. We are not denying admission. We have a helpdesk in all hospitals except for the small ones. .State: Request them to be more co-operative with the State govt .PHANA: We are with the government.State: Current stock availability is 38,420 vials. Orders have been placed for 80,000 vials, out of which 73,000 vials have been delivered by 3 diff manufactures. .The remaining will be done in 3-4 days..Bench: Are you putting real-time updates on the availability of beds and helpdesk....We are already passed order .PHANA: No, milords .Bench: Why? .Bench (internally) 75% of the patients not getting Remdesivir. That is what he is saying. .(to PHANA) : Can we record your statement that only 25% of the demand is getting the medicine? .PHANA: Yes.Bench: Can we record your statement that none of the private hospitals ask relatives to get medicine? .PHANA: As of today, Bengaluru has around 18,000 patients admitted in Hospitals. Demand is approx 3 lakh for a month for Remdesivir. But State gets only 1.82 lakh vials..Bench: What is hospital tell the patient to get medicine, from where should he get it? We are talking strictly with regard to Article 21. .HC to PHANA: Are private hospitals not telling patients to procure Remdesivir?.PHANA: Only 25% of patients get Remdesivir. We give it to critically ill patients in ICU. Others, pressure doctors to give prescriptions to get it by themselves. .We don't force patients/relatives to get remdesivir..Bench: Some hospital tell patient to get remdesivir, where will they get it from? .State: It will be routed through the State. Private stockist cannot sell it, it have to be routed through us. War room is monitoring the supply.State: There is a national and state plan for monitoring levels of remdesivir. One state cannot fall short. There is a limit for us. .Bench: Can people buy Remdesivir from private players? .State: No..State: Remdesivir is available in govt hospitals. The demand raised by them is met by govt. State is monitoring it. .Bench: We will tell you this. A sitting Judge of the HC sent message to Registrar General that he is not getting remdesivir..Bench: ....What is your reluctance in publishing data on remdesivir...If you are making a tall claim of remdesivir available in the city, you should publish it. .State counsel, Advocate Vikram: Sometimes hospitals administer remdesivir even when it is not needed..BBMP: Some hospitals dont have help desk and we have fined them. .Advocate Clifton submits that vacancy of beds shown in website and ground reality is different. .Court: Have you complied with our previous order? Have you published info on remdesivir?.Army does not have any facility (in belgavi). Command Hospital full. .HC: Army has capacity to create more facilities in situation of Disasters like Floods. Their Doctors and others can work Govt. Facilities can be shared..Bench: How many beds are vacant now in the State? .BBMP Counsel: 1730, HDU - 121, ICU with ventilator - 14, ICU - 30 .Bench: ICU with ventilator only 14?.Bench: Between April 27 and today, only 29 ICU beds increased. Number of cases gone over 22k. .AG Prabhuling Navadgi: Percentage of persons who require hospitalization is only 1 percent. Those, who test positive should remain calm. Will be impossible if everyone runs to hospitals.Bench: But at any point, in Bengaluru, there are not more than 100 beds available. The facts is that those who are advised hospitalization are not getting beds. .Bench: BBMP should take over facility of railways which has 300 vacant beds. That will solve many problems..Counsel: I'll take instructions.Court: There are 300 beds and nobody is using it. We will ask BBMP to take over the facility. What do you (BBMP) say?.Court is informed 300 beds (with oxygen) of Railways is not in use. .Bench: We are only interested in Karnataka, not other states.Centre counsel: They (Army and Airforce) also have limited facilities. It is not done in Karnataka, done in north eastern states. .Bench: Can they increase facilities? They are huge establishments.Bench : Tell us on availability of beds. Between the last date and today, is there an increase in the number of beds?.The Karnataka High Court is hearing the case concerning the COVID-19 situation in the State. .Matters taken up by the Bench include the availability of beds, oxygen supply, and Remdesivir availability. The matter was taken up by the Court after it received two letters highlighting various difficulties faced by COVID-19 positive patients in the State. .Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar are hearing the matter. Live updates from the hearing today feauture here.
