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High court asks Centre not to change protocol just to reduce shortage
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday expressed its unhappiness with the Centre over non-supply of the full oxygen quota allocated to the national capital and objected to a “change” in COVID treatment protocol on Remdesivir use, saying “it appears you want people to die”.
“This is wrong. This is a complete non-application of mind. Now people who do not have oxygen will not get Remdesivir either,” Justice Prathiba M Singh said when the central government submitted that under the COVID treatment protocol being followed now only patients on oxygen support were being given Remdesivir.
“It appears you want people to die,” the judge said. Noting that the nation is facing an unprecedented crisis, the court also appealed to citizens and suppliers not to hoard oxygen cylinders and medicines to avoid creating an artificial shortage.
Full quota not given
“The allocation made by the Centre to Delhi is 490 Metric Tonnes per day. Not for a single day, Delhi has been able to get the complete quantity,” a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli said, adding that this is primarily because three of the plants are situated in West Bengal and Odisha which are at a distance of 1,300-1,500 km from here.
Justice Singh also said the court will consider later whether a medical committee should review if the protocols or guidelines for administering Remdesivir need any modification.
“Don’t change the protocol only to reduce the shortage. That is wrong. As a result, doctors are not able to prescribe Remdesivir,” the court said and added, “This is complete mismanagement.” The high court is handling multiple petitions relating to the pandemic with various benches conducting marathon hearings.
The bench headed by Justice Sanghi appointed senior advocate Raj Shekhar Rao as amicus curiae to assist the court in dealing with the medical oxygen crisis and other issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It asked him to study the national allocation order on oxygen and give suggestions on optimal usage of tankers and minimisation of turn-around time.
Delhi to give test details
It also asked the Delhi government to place a report on the number of RT-PCR tests conducted in the last seven days and the reasons for the reduction in the tests.
The court was informed that at the time of discharge of COVID-19 patients from hospitals, the process of a no-objection certificate by Third Party Administrators (TPA), attached to insurance companies, is taking a long time of 7-8 hours resulting in a delay in discharge and admission of new patients.
The court said such delays are bound to result in more sufferings for patients and their attendants and directed the insurance companies and their TPAs to ensure that the time take to grant NOCs is reduced so that such a problem does not arise.
The bench also asked the Delhi government to examine the suggestion by senior advocate Krishnan Venugopal for taking services of armed forces in this situation as they can set up field hospitals which will help a large number of COVID-19 patients in the national capital, and take appropriate steps.