Covid-19 situation worsening, swift measures should be taken: HC

The Jharkhand high court on Tuesday observed that the Covid-19 scenario in the state was worsening with each passing day and it will be difficult to control if things were not spruced up immediately.

A division bench of chief justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and justice Sujit Narayan Prasad pulled up state authorities over lack of health care and services even after a year of the outbreak. “A year has already elapsed since the outbreak of this pandemic. We were expecting that the government must have set up adequate arrangements and streamlined the system to meet such medical exigencies. But, unfortunately, nothing much has been done. We still face shortage of beds in hospitals, delay in sample testing, death of patients in want of treatment and many more troubles,” the bench observed.

It said even the state’s biggest Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) has only three RT-PCR machines.

“More than 5,000 untested samples are piled up in this hospital alone. Government is sending samples to other states for testing. This indicates lack of preparedness. The situation will worsen if not controlled immediately. Adequate and swift measures must be taken. Every stakeholders is required to work sincerely in this difficult time,” the bench stated.

It suggested the government to set up isolation centres in hotels and banquet halls, and asked to furnish a progress report on the whole issue by April 17, the next date of hearing.

The court pointed out that it was hearing a matter related to mismanagement in RIMS for last one year and passing orders from time-to-time to improve its condition but to no avail.

“The hospital, which is generally flooded with patients from across the state, doesn’t have many important testing machines. There is a paucity of technicians and other staff. In current situation, this medical institution is overburdened with patients and it is finding it difficult to handle the rush,” the bench said.

Advocate general Rajiv Ranjan, however, informed the court that all private hospitals were directed to reserve 50% beds for Covid-19 patients. “The state is testing more than 35,000 samples everyday. RIMS governing body is slated to meet to discuss matters related to purchase of CT scan machines and others. The government is handling the Covid-19 scenario with all sincerity,” he argued.

Earlier, the HC took serious exception to the fact that reports of samples collected from over 70 court staff on April 5 were yet to be generated. It also took notice of the fact that an electric crematorium set up in Ranchi for disposal of bodies of Covid-19 casualties was not functioning and bodies were piled up.

Earlier on Monday, the court asked a slew of top officials, including health department’s principal secretary, Ranchi deputy commissioner and others, to appear before it through videoconferencing.

The court was informed that the electric crematorium at Ranchi’s Harmu will be repaired in a day. Another electric crematorium at Ghagra will be made functional soon. Proper arrangements have been made for disposal of infected bodies, officials concerned said.