High court to hear plea against Covid bed reservation on Feb 12

Justice Navin Chawla said that no further adjournments would be given on the next date and posted the matter for Tuesday.

The Delhi High Court on Friday said that it would hear the plea by Association of Healthcare Providers challenging the decision of the Delhi government to reserve 80% Covid ICU beds in 33 private hospitals on February 12 after the petitioners raised questions on the gradual manner of de-escalation of Covid ICU beds.

The Delhi government counsel advocate Urvi Mohan sought an adjournment from the court due to the absence of the Additional Solicitor General.

Justice Navin Chawla said that no further adjournments would be given on the next date and posted the matter for Tuesday.

The Delhi government counsel advocate Urvi Mohan sought an adjournment from the court due to the absence of the Additional Solicitor General. However, this was opposed by senior advocate Maninder Singh, for the petitioners, who said that they should not be left at the mercy of the government which has reserved the beds even after the positivity rate had plunged to 0.5%.

Senior advocate Singh said that when the government had to reserve the beds, it did it in one go but the de-escalation is being done gradually. He also opposed the Delhi government’s move to reserve 40% Covid ICU beds in 33 private hospitals and said that he has also advised his client to file a suit of recovery against the government.

“It is very convenient for the government to take adjournments in the matter when there is no stay on the order. We are under article 226 and we are not getting any adjudication here,” Singh, along with advocate Sanyam Khetarpal, submitted.

The Delhi government also informed the court that it has reduced the reservation of Covid-19 intensive care units (ICU) beds from 80% to 40% in 33 private hospitals, while considering the low occupancy of such beds by Covid patients in the city.

The government gave an order of January 6 passed by the medical superintendent of nursing homes, RN Das, under the approval of home minister Satyendra Jain to the court, stating that it has accepted the recommendations of a review meeting held on January 5 by a committee of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to reduce the number of beds further to 40%.

The order has said that the data with respect to pattern of Covid ICU bed occupancy on Jan 5 in 33 private hospitals was analysed by the committee and it was recommended that the de-escalation should take place up to 40%.

It, however, added that the status of Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital, Saket as a fully COVID dedicated hospital shall continue.

On December 27, the Delhi government had reduced the ICU beds occupancy from 80% to 60%. However, it had also said that they would not consider any further de-escalations in the wake of the new strain of the Sars-Cov-2 virus detected in the United Kingdom, as well as with Christmas and New Year’s celebrations in mind. The government said it will review the situation in January.

The court had, on December 24, said it would be “inhumane” to have 80% ICU beds in almost three dozen private hospitals of the city reserved only for Covid-19 patients, especially when the positivity rate and cases in the city was falling.