HC: All Covid Patients In Delhi Must Be Treated

New Delhi: Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees the most basic fundamental right — the life to life and liberty — to every person, said the Delhi high court on Thursday, directing that all Delhi residents, suffering from Covid-19, shall be provided with the facility for treatment.

- Aamir Khan

Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli were acting on a petition filed by a 52-year-old man whose condition had worsened and he required an ICU bed with a ventilator. The bench also clarified that only because he had approached the court, it didn’t give him an advantage over others suffering from the coronavirus.

During the course of the hearing, the bench pointed out that the existing medical infrastructure in the state got completely exposed when put to test. The right has been claimed by the petitioner. This court can’t turn away the petitioner by merely telling him that the state doesn’t have the infrastructure to deal with his condition. ICU beds and ventilators have already been taken… Petitioner himself states no ICU bed is available despite making enquiries in several hospitals, observed the bench.

As the order was being dictated, Delhi government Rahul Mehra pointed out that 16,500 beds were in the pipeline and the primary issue was oxygen shortage. He urged the court not to say that the medical infrastructure was in a shambles.

The bench, however, underscored that oxygen was not the only issue and various other issues also required attention. Pipeline is pipeline. Now you are behaving like that ostrich… We have to respond… We will have to respond… When you defend these positions, then you are not rising above politics… We always call a spade a spade, you know that, the bench remarked.