Medical facilities in UP's small cities, villages 'Ram bharose': HC
The entire medical system in villages and small cities of Uttar Pradesh is Ram bharose, the Allahabad High Court said on Monday while hearing a PIL over the coronavirus spread and the condition of quarantine centers in UP. The HC made the observation while taking into account the death of Santosh Kumar, who was admitted to an isolation ward at a Meerut hospital.
Santosh Kumar's body was disposed of as unidentified
The doctors at the hospital failed to identify him and disposed of the body as unidentified, according to a probe report. The 64-year-old Kumar had fainted at a hospital bathroom on April 22 and efforts were made to revive him but he died.
Hospital failed to locate the patient's file
"The hospital staff could not identify the dead and failed to locate his file. Thus, it was taken as a case of an unidentified body. The body was packed in a bag and was disposed of," according to the probe report. Commenting on this issue, an HC bench of Justices Siddharth Verma and Ajit Kumar made the observation.
It is a case of serious misconduct: High Court
The High Court said, "If doctors and paramedical staff adopt such a casual approach and show carelessness in the performance of their duty, then it is a case of serious misconduct because it is something like playing with lives of innocent people." "The state needs to take stern action against those responsible," the court observed.
Community health centers lack life-saving gadgets: HC
Upon perusal of the report submitted by District Magistrates of five districts, the court said, "We have no hesitation in observing that health infrastructure is absolutely insufficient in city areas to meet the requirement of the city population and in rural areas the community health centers are virtually lacking in respect of life-saving gadgets." It directed the state government to provide sufficient healthcare infrastructure.
Oxygen plant compulsory in hospitals with more than 30 beds
The HC further said, "Every nursing home/hospital, which has more than 20 beds, should have at least 40 percent of their beds as intensive care units. Every nursing home and hospital, which has more than 30 beds, should compulsorily have an oxygen production plant." The court made this observation at a time when the rural areas have reported an unprecedented spike in COVID-19 deaths.
Next hearing of the case is on May 22
"Every second and third-tier town of Uttar Pradesh should be provided with at least 20 ambulances and every village should be provided with at least two ambulances having ICU facilities," the court suggested while fixing May 22 as the next date of hearing.
UP recorded 9,345 fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday
Reportedly, NITI Aayog, WHO, and Bombay High Court had last week lauded Uttar Pradesh for bringing down the COVID-19 positivity rate. On Monday, the state reported 9,345 fresh COVID-19 cases, and 271 COVID-19 related deaths, thus pushing the state's total tally to 16,28,990 COVID-19 cases and 17,817 COVID-19 deaths. With active cases standing at 1,49,032, the state has so far recorded 14,62,141 recovered patients.
