Eleven Delhi government hospitals with a total of 10,073 sanctioned beds are at various stages of completion in different parts of the city, with two of these projects “likely” to be finished by March, the Delhi High Court was informed.
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Delhi’s Department of Health and Family Welfare, in an affidavit on Thursday, told the court that the total expenditure on these 11 hospitals, along with Indira Gandhi Hospital, operational since 2021, stands at ₹2,691.31 crore so far.
On the court’s query about budget expenditure on medical infrastructure, the government said it has spent ₹21,436.80 crore on hospitals since the financial year 2017-18.
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The affidavit was submitted in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) initiated suo motu by the High Court. The PIL was filed in 2017 after a media report on the death of a newborn in the city after the child’s family could not get a ventilator-fitted bed at four government hospitals.
During the last hearing in the case, advocate Ashok Agarwal, acting as amicus curiae, had highlighted the incident where a man jumped out of a moving police van and died after being denied treatment at four government hospitals.
‘Lack of facilities’
The High Court had then questioned the city government over why hospitals were turning away accident victims and lacking adequate ventilator beds. In its affidavit, the government said it is working on developing a central portal through the National Informatics Centre, which will give access to real-time information on the availability and nature of beds in all city hospitals.
The Centre told the court that it has no objection in principle to the establishment of the portal.
On the court’s concerns over the lack of infrastructure for critical care patients, the government said it is constructing new hospitals to tackle this issue.