HC dismisses plea alleging authorities failure to provide PPE kits to health workers

The Delhi High Court Thursday dismissed a plea alleging failure of authorities to protect the rights of healthcare professionals involved in treating COVID-19 patients in hospitals here by ignoring their health and not providing them complete personal protective equipment (PPE) kits.

A bench of Justices Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula, which conducted the hearing through video conferencing, observed that the Centre and Delhi government are doing satisfactory work and the Supreme Court has already dealt with the issue.

The court said petitioner NGO, Justice For All, has not made any representation to the authorities before filing the petition.

The Ministry of Health, represented through Central government standing counsel Ajay Digpaul, said they were following all the procedures which are required to handle the situation.

The NGO, represented through advocates Khagesh Jha and Shikha Sharma Bagga, claimed that the authorities were risking the lives of doctors by not ensuring the availability of standardised PPE kits, masks, face shields, gloves, starch apparels and overall gowns to all frontline healthcare workers who are actively attending to patients in government or private hospitals in Delhi.

It said ignoring the health of healthcare professionals amounts to violation of their fundamental rights.

The plea sought enforcement of directions issued by the Supreme Court for giving full protection to doctors and health workers who were acting as warriors in the fight against coronavirus.

The apex court in April had asked the Centre to consider providing personal protective equipment (PPE) kits to all medical and paramedic workers, including those working in non-COVID treatment areas.