Highlights:
- The court has fixed May 22 as the next hearing date & recommended few measures that the state government needs to take.
- The court said, every second and third-tier town in Uttar Pradesh should have at least 20 ambulances.
- It was recommended that each village have at least two ambulances with intensive care unit facilities.
The entire medical system in Uttar Pradesh’s villages and small towns is at God’s mercy (“Ram bharose”), according to the Allahabad High Court. This was reported by the court on Monday while hearing a PIL about the increase in coronavirus cases and the state’s quarantine centres.
Santosh Kumar (64), who was admitted to an isolation ward at a Meerut hospital, died. A High Court bench consisting of Justices Siddharth Verma and Ajit Kumar made the observation in light of his death.
According to the PIL, doctors there failed to recognise him and the body was disposed of as unidentified, citing a probe report. On April 22, Santosh passed out in a hospital bathroom and was unable to be revived.
According to a PTI report, hospital personnel were unable to recognise the deceased and were unable to find his file, so the case was classified as an unidentified body. The body was placed in a bag and disposed of, according to the investigation report.
If this is the state of affairs at a medical college in a city like Meerut, then the state’s entire medical system, which includes smaller cities and villages, can only be described as “Ram bharose,” as the High Court observed the COVID-19 situation on Monday.
“It is a case of serious wrongdoing if doctors and paramedical personnel take such a casual attitude and display carelessness in the execution of their duties because it is like playing with the lives of innocent people.” The court was quoted as saying, “The state must take strict action against those responsible.”
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“We have no qualms in stating that health infrastructure in city area is totally inadequate to meet the needs of the city population and in rural areas, community health centres are practically lacking in respect of life-saving gadgets,” the High Court said after reviewing the report submitted by district magistrates from five districts.
In accordance with a previous directive, the state government was directed to provide adequate health-care facilities. It also mandated that any nursing home or hospital with more than 20 beds have at least 40% of their beds designated as intensive care units.
It went on to say that any nursing home and hospital with more than 30 beds should have an oxygen production plant installed.
The next hearing date has been scheduled for May 22, and the court has recommended that every second and third-tier town in Uttar Pradesh have at least 20 ambulances and every village with at least two ambulances equipped with intensive care units.
On the topic of coronavirus vaccination, the HC recommended that large corporations that profit from tax laws by contributing to different religious organisations be required to divert funds to vaccinations.
According to a government bulletin issued on Monday, the state of Uttar Pradesh confirmed 285 coronavirus deaths and 9,391 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the state to 16,28,990. The virus has claimed the lives of 17,817 people in the state so far.
The city of Lucknow had 22 new deaths, followed by Kanpur with 21. Ghaziabad and Saharanpur each recorded 11 deaths, while Lakhimpur Kheri and Etawah each reported nine deaths, according to the bulletin.
Gorakhpur had the most infection cases, with 542, followed by Lucknow with 517, Saharanpur with 458, Gautam Buddh Nagar with 457, and Meerut with 452. There have been 14,62,141 people who have recovered from the virus so far, including 23,045 in the last 24 hours.
According to the bulletin, the state currently has 1,49,032 active cases.