The Delhi High Court has directed the city government to ensure the functionality of all medical equipment in its hospitals and elucidate the apparent reduction in hospital expenditure.
The bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora, addressed a PIL initiated by the high court in 2017 regarding the lack of ICU beds and ventilator facilities in government hospitals.
During the hearing, the court summoned the health secretary of the Delhi government to participate in the proceedings on Wednesday. The bench expressed its intention to issue an order requiring the health secretary to ensure the functionality of all hospital equipment within a month, citing instances such as the non-functional CT scan at GTB Hospital for the past six months.
The court emphasized, ‘Secretary (Health), GNCTD is directed to join virtually.’ Additionally, the court took note of the Delhi government’s affidavit indicating a decrease in “budget expenditure” for hospitals, from approximately Rs 3,500 crore in 2022-2023 to about Rs 2,800 crore in 2023-2024. Justice Manmohan remarked that the report was “incomplete” as it did not address the estimated “demand” for healthcare services, highlighting a “huge shortfall” in the latest budget figures.
The court insisted, ‘This affidavit is incomplete. You must tell the demand (to determine whether there is a shortfall in supply). It is apparent that spending in hospitals has gone down…Rs 700 crore shortfall is a huge shortfall. Rs 700 crore shortfall on hospitals will take its toll.’ The government counsel was directed to gather information on “why spending on hospitals has gone down and whether any money is diverted to some other planned event.”
Furthermore, the court stressed that any unspent funds from the budget should not be wasted with the closing of the financial year and must be allocated to address the concerns raised during the proceedings. ‘There will be unspent budget. Please ensure that it is spent on these kinds of issues. Money should not go waste,’ it stated.
Earlier this month, the court had expressed concerns about the inadequate medical infrastructure for critical care patients in government hospitals. This followed an incident in which a man who jumped out of a moving PCR van died after being denied medical treatment by four government hospitals.
The court was informed that the death resulted from denial of treatment by three Delhi government hospitals and one Central government hospital on various pretexts, including the non-availability of ICU/ventilator beds or CT scan. The deceased was reportedly taken to Delhi government’s Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, and Lok Nayak Hospital, as well as the Centre’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. The central government counsel assured that a report would be filed regarding its hospital, emphasizing that private hospitals were not the best comparisons for government hospitals.
