Noticing delay faced by people in getting results of RT-PCR tests for COVID-19, the High Court of Karnataka on Saturday directed the State government to issue necessary instructions to all the authorities and laboratories to give results at the earliest and not later than 24 hours.
It also directed the government to ensure that those testing positive for COVID-19 and requiring hospitalisation or quarantine as per medical advice are not deprived of hospitalisation or quarantine facilities.
The need of persons requiring dire medical attention should be prioritised as against those volunteering to get admitted to hospitals or quarantine centres on their own though it is not required, the HC said.
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A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar issued the directions while hearing a batch of PIL petitions filed last year on the issues that cropped up during lockdown and the unlock process.
The Bench also asked the government to explore the possibility of issuing guidelines for admission to hospitals/quarantine centres based on the medical condition.
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On bed shortage
On the availability of beds for COVID-19 patients, the government told the High Court that one reasons why the issue of non-availability of beds arises from time to time is peculiar scenarios. One of these could be that patients want a bed in a particular area or in a particular hospital and that may not be available. The government, in its written statement, also said that at present, private hospitals have a large number of non-COVID-19 patients and beds have to be earmarked for COVID-19 as and when other patients are discharged and sometimes ICU’s with ventilators are in demand because patients are admitted at the very last minute which also causes lot of difficulty.
During the hearing, it was pointed out that bed availability could be an issue in Bengaluru while referring to the instance in which former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy could not get admission to Manipal Hospitals.