The Delhi High Court on Monday decided to close a public interest litigation initiated by it on the preparedness of authorities and hospitals to fight COVID-19 in the Capital, noting that the Delhi government has taken “adequate steps” by increasing the number of ambulances, augmenting the capacity of helplines, and ramping up testing facilities.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan expressed satisfaction on the work done by the government in handling the outbreak while highlighting that Delhi was the first city in the country to have two plasma banks.
The High Court’s direction came after the Delhi government, in an affidavit, stated that 50 lines have been added to augment the capacity of helpline number 1031 so that more calls can be attended simultaneously.
Between July 1 and 9, the helpline received a total of 37,289 calls, out of which 34,087 were attended by call centre executives and 2,479 calls through interactive voice response system. The number of unattended calls are dropping significantly, the government said.
Buffer stock
There are 272 dedicated ambulances for COVID-19 patients and 294 for non-COVID patients.
In terms of testing kits, the government said it has a total of 11 lakh rapid antigen detection test (RADT) kits. The government has a sufficient buffer of testing kits worth ₹8.27 lakh as on July 14 to meet future demands.
The RAD test has been made available free of cost at all government hospitals and 182 dispensaries.
The affidavit further stated that the government has capped the price of RT-PCR-based molecular testing at ₹2,400 to keep it affordable for the public.
There are currently 51 Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) accredited labs — 21 in public sector and 30 in private sector — to carry out RT-PCR tests.
Additionally, all private labs have been instructed not to refuse home collection of samples.
During the hearing, advocate Om Prakash, who was appointed as amicus curiae to assist the High Court in the case, stated that there was anomaly or irregularity in the real-time information displayed on the Delhi Corona Mobile Application and delhifightscorona.in website regarding occupied and vacant beds in dedicated COVID hospitals.
Mr. Prakash submitted that certain COVID-19 hospitals are not timely complying with the government instructions with regard to real time updation of data.
Taking note of the submission, the court asked the Delhi government to ensure that the official orders and directions issued by it and the court with regard to real time updation of data on the availability of beds and ventilators and also on conducting tests be followed by the hospitals.
