PIL in Delhi HC claims need for transparency in allocation of hospital beds

Hospitals in the national capital are allegedly following a "VIP culture" of allocating beds and therefore, there is a need for a transparent system, a PIL urged the Delhi High Court on Monday.

Hospitals in the national capital are allegedly following a "VIP culture" of allocating beds and therefore, there is a need for a centralised and transparent system to help COVID-19 patients locate a bed, a PIL urged the Delhi High Court on Monday.

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli issued notice to the Delhi government and sought its stand by May 21 on the plea which has contended that allocation of beds cannot be unregulated.

The petition by Delhi resident Manjit Singh, who works in the hospitality industry, has said that in the present situation of health emergency, where demand for beds is more than its supply, "there should be some mechanism to ensure that allocation of beds to COVID-19 patients in the hospitals across the city is not arbitrary and unreasonable".

Senior advocate Vivek Sood, appearing for Singh, told the court that people cannot be jostling outside hospitals for beds and therefore there has to be a system where people in the wait list can be informed when a bed becomes vacant and then according to their turn on the list it can be allocated to someone.

The court said it agreed that there should be transparency and that people should get the beds on a first-come-first-serve basis, but the situation on the ground was "desperate" owing to an "overwhelming rush" at the hospitals.

Senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao, who is assisting the court as amicus curiae in the matter, said that while it may not be feasible to bring under a centralised system the existing number of beds in the hospitals, the new beds which are expected to come in soon may be allocated via a centralised system.

He said that the petitioner was seeking replication of the Bombay model where the majority of the beds were taken over by the government and were allocated by it.

The court, thereafter, asked senior advocate Rahul Mehra and additional standing counsel Anuj Aggarwal, appearing for the Delhi government, to look into the issue and file a reply.