Don’t pressure labs to give Covid test reports within 24 or 36 hours, says HC

Delhi government’s additional standing counsel Satyakam, however, told the high court bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rekha Palli that no such order has been passed.

The Delhi high court on Thursday directed the Delhi government to not implement any order directing the labs to submit the Covid test reports within 24 hours or 36 hours, saying that the reports should come within a maximum of 48 hours.

On Thursday, the court also noted that the number of RT-PCR tests in the city is going down despite the fact that the cases are on a rise. (PTI)

Delhi government’s additional standing counsel Satyakam, however, told the high court bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rekha Palli that no such order has been passed. The counsel also assured the court that its earlier order of May 2020, mandating reports to be issued within a maximum 48 hours will be implemented.

The court was hearing a plea by advocate Rakesh Malhotra, who sought ramping up of tests in the city. The petition, which was disposed of, was revived by the court on Monday, noting that the virus has raised its “ugly head” once again and that “health care infrastructure is at the stage of imminent collapse”.

On Thursday, the court also noted that the number of RT-PCR tests in the city is going down despite the fact that the cases are on a rise.

To be sure, the proportion of RT-PCR tests among the overall samples collected over the past two weeks has been 66%, below the 70% number as recommended by the Centre. Overall testing, generally, too has dropped as labs struggle to clear backlogs and deliver test results to patients in time, amid a huge spike in demand

On Thursday, Delhi collected 48,346 samples using the RT-PCR method.In comparison, a week ago, Delhi collected 59,401 samples using the gold standard, and 70,403 samples using the technique two weeks ago.

During the proceedings, both the Centre and the Delhi government sparred over the allocation of beds in the hospitals being run by the Union government. The petitioner informed the court that the Centre promised to allocate more beds in its the hospitals on April 20 but they were yet to be allocated.

Delhi government’s counsel Rahul Mehra said when the cases were comparatively fewer in November, the Centre allocated them 4,132 beds. He said, currently they have been given around 2,900 beds despite the infection spreading much faster than the last wave. He said that nearly 7,000 beds should be allotted to the Delhi government for the emergency period.

Arti Ahuja, additional secretary, ministry of health and family welfare, told the court that they have increased the number of beds. She said that the union government was exploring avenues for augmenting the number of beds with other facilities for mild and patients not requiring oxygen. She also said that the beds being sought by the Delhi government were already occupied.

The court observed that the situation has become “precarious” in the city and people are not getting beds. Justice Sanghi said, “People are not getting beds. Please do increase the beds. People are dying on the streets. The cases are four fold, people need hospitalization and the immediate needs have to be met. Forget about the common man on the road, today if I go and stand and ask for a bed, I would not get it.”

The bench asked the Delhi government to explore the possibilities of augmenting hotels with the hospitals and DMs and SDMs are in talks on this with the stakeholder.

The high court also asked the Delhi government to explore the possibility of getting public sector undertakings (PSUs) to set up makeshift beds as was being done by some other states to enhance the availability of beds for citizens of the national capital.

“We hope and expect that the Centre will look into the requirements of COVID beds and work to enhance availability,” the court said and asked the governments to file status reports on this.

The matter would be now heard on April 26.