The Telangana High Court on Friday directed the State government to explain what scheme it was following for testing and treating COVID-19 suspects or patients.
A Bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice T. Amarnath Goud passed this direction, after hearing a PIL plea on private hospitals charging ₹4,500 for coronavirus diagnostic tests. Hearing the arguments through video-conferencing, the Bench instructed Advocate General B.S. Prasad to inform it about different aspects of testing and treating methods being adopted by the government.
Petitioner P. Thirumala Rao, an advocate, told the Bench that the Telangana government opted out of the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana for dealing with COVID-19. The State government formed its own scheme to test and treat the affected.
What was the scheme floated by State government, the extent of its implementation and the scope of relief it gives to people over testing and treating coronavirus patients should be explained in a report, the Bench said. The matter was posted to Wednesday for next hearing.
In another PIL petition, the Bench sought to know how the government was helping Nayee Brahmin people operating hair saloons (which were closed due to lockdown) in the State. The Bench took up a letter written by Nayee Brahmin Youth Association president Dhanraj as PIL plea.
