The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday directed the State government to make it clear that all hospitals, either government or private, are required to treat patients needing emergency medical services for ailments other than COVID-19 without insisting on negative report for coronavirus infection.
Also, the court directed the government to update the data of availability of beds in government and private hospitals on the designated websites in Bengaluru and other districts by getting data from all the hospitals at regular intervals.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Alok Aradhe issued the directions while hearing PIL petitions related to issues of COVID-19 health management.
In response to the court’s earlier queries, the government said there is no facility for real-time bed availability data but data on beds is being updated on dedicated websites of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and the other district administrations as and when information is received from hospitals.
However, the Bench said that providing details of bed availability constantly is a crucial part of fighting COVID-19 and hence the government must ensure that every hospital must submit the data at regular intervals, to be decided by the government.
As the government had only directed private hospitals to not deny admission to any patient if beds are available and the patient is ready to pay the charges, the Bench said that hospitals should be clearly told to treat non-COVID-19 patients requiring emergency medical service without insisting on COVID-19 negative reports.
The Bench also sought the government’s response on the death of Manjunath S.T., a doctor serving at a government primary health centre at Kanakapura, after he was denied admission by three private hospitals in the city for not having COVID-19 negative report.
Meanwhile, the government said the direction of the court to ensure SMS intimation about COVID-19 negative report has been taken up with the Union government.
Dead bodies
The Bench said it will hear on July 27 the petitions complaining about the hardship faced by the relatives of those who die of COVID-19 in getting the bodies to perform the last rites and exchange of bodies as a result of denial of identification by relatives.
