Poll code no bar to making hospital facilities better in city, says Delhi HC

The Model Code of Conduct which is in force for the Lok Sabha elections should not hamper implementation of measures to hire doctors and procure equipment for hospitals in Delhi, the Delhi high court has directed top state government officials.

The court said that measures such as filling at least 15% staff vacancies, meeting 15% manpower and equipment requirement in Delhi government hospitals — recommendations by a panel of doctors — were not political in nature and will instead go a long way in saving human lives.

“Since the immediate measures have been recommended for implementation within 30 days, this court directs the chief secretary, GNCTD and the principal health secretary, GNCTD to implement the said measures within the timeline stipulated by the expert committee. As the immediate recommendations of Dr.SK Sarin Committee of doctors shall go a long way in saving human lives and are not political in nature, this court directs that the Model Code of Conduct shall not be a hindrance,” a bench led by acting chief justice Manmohan said in an April 16 order, which was released on Thursday.

The directions were issued by the court during a hearing on suo moto petition on the availability of intensive care unit (ICU) beds with ventilator facilities in the hospitals run by the Delhi government and the functioning of health emergency numbers.

On February 13, the high court constituted a committee of experts to assess the medical infrastructure of the hospitals in the capital to suggest ways to improve medical services. The court said that the need of the hour is huge investment along with structural reforms, without indulging in a blame game.

The court said that the infrastructure in form of medicines, manpower and machines in the Delhi hospitals was “woefully inadequate” and tasked the committee to propose ways for optimisation of existing resources in the hospitals as well as formulation of a mechanism to provide real-time information regarding the availability of ICU beds in government hospitals.

A bench led by acting chief justice Manmohan while directing the committee to submit an interim report within four weeks had also tasked the committee to recommend measures to ensure availability of uninterrupted supply of medicine, injections, consumables and adequate manpower to operate high end equipment/critical care units in government hospitals.

In its 266-page report submitted to the court on April 1, the committee underlined the shortage of critical faculty including radiologist, anesthesiologist, critical care and emergency medicine specialists during regular working and emergency hours. The committee had also recommended to double the ICU beds in Delhi government hospitals from 1058 to 2028, by immediately adding 1046 additional beds.

“The chief secretary and the principal health secretary shall also indicate a road map as to how they intend to implement the intermediate and long term measures within the timeline stipulated by the expert committee,” the court said in the order.