Publicise Covid helplines widely, HC tells Centre and Delhi govt

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Tuesday directed the Centre and the Delhi government to give wide publicity to Covid-19 helplines to inform people about facilities for testing, treatment and mental health issues arising from pandemic remarking that they were “lagging behind” on this

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Tuesday directed the Centre and the Delhi government to give wide publicity to Covid-19 helplines to inform people about facilities for testing, treatment and mental health issues arising from pandemic remarking that they were “lagging behind” on this.

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A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said the helpline numbers should be widely circulated through print and audio visual medium daily and a corner or column on a page could be dedicated for these helplines in the newspapers.

“In newspapers, one does not find these inserts on a daily basis. These things should be there in the papers every day. Fix a corner or column, may be on page 1 or page 3. Some column on a page should be dedicated to it daily so that people know where to go when they need it. People would be habituated. This is where you are lagging behind,” the bench said.

“As we grew up, we used to see the amount of advertisement, propaganda for family planning ‘hum do humare do’. It was on buses, newspapers, it was everywhere and it worked. We just have to keep bombarding people with information. This has to be regular exercise,” it said.

“You are playing a message which was made 6 months ago. Situation has changed. What is the difficulty? You should make a new ringtone and change it. You have to be agile on your feet,” the bench remarked.

“Helpline numbers have not been broadcast as frequently and as effectively it should have been done on a daily basis. Their publication on one or the other medium is not sufficient. We have earlier as well emphasised this and we are compelled to once again take this observation since there is not much ground covered on this aspect”.

“We again direct the Union of India and Delhi government to undertake publication of all relevant helpline numbers and information through all audio video and print mediums on continuous and daily basis to educate people of the facilities created by the State for testing, treatment and mental health issues arising out of Covid-19 pandemic,” it said.

The observations and directions came after amicus curiae senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao, told the court that it would be helpful if the government could consider publicising more about the helpline numbers and other data in newspapers or through any other medium.

The court was hearing a plea by lawyer-petitioner Rakesh Malhotra, who along with several hospitals sought directions to the Centre and the Delhi government for better facilities and continuous supply of oxygen in the hospitals and nursing homes of the city.

Senior advocate Rahul Mehra suggested that a central helpline could be created by both the governments as there is a lot of misinformation on social media.

Central government standing counsel Kirtiman Singh assured the court that measures would be taken for daily publication.

Questioning the Centre, the court said, “AIR, Doordarshan they are all your mediums. Please show us how frequently have you done it on Doordarshan? I have watched Doordarshan and I can say that I haven’t seen anything at all….You can employ people for making such content. Looking at the enormity of the problem, war makes propaganda, no? What is the fatigue?”

Black fungus medicine

During the proceedings, the bench also asked Ganga Ram Hospital to place before it the particulars of all black fungus patients treated at the hospital and how the injections were distributed to them.

The order came on the plea by a man who was seeking directions to the Delhi government and Ganga Ram hospital to give Ampohtericin-B for his treatment.

On court’s direction, one of the doctors of the hospital joined the proceedings and informed them that they don’t have only one patient but many and they have to administer the medicine as per the patient’s condition and requirement and that they have distributed all the 360 vials.

The doctor said currently he was not having the data of patients being treated at the hospital, however, he will give the details on Thursday.

Additional standing counsel of the Delhi government, advocate Satyakam told the court that the Delhi government does not have the medicine and as soon they are supplied by the Centre, it will be immediately distributed to the hospital.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate and his granddaughter, Iqra Khalid told the court that even though some vials have been given, he needs more and may lose and eye. The court asked the authorities to look into the matter and see if something can be done.

The court said if any more vials are available with the hospital, it should be given to the woman lawyer’s grandfather, “whose eye has swollen since morning and is in great pain”.

Plea for compensation

The bench also asked the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Delhi government to respond to a plea seeking compensation for the parents and wife of a Covid-19 patient who died allegedly due to want of medical attention.

It asked Delhi government’s Rao Tula Ram Hospital to respond to the plea which claimed that the victim’s condition was critical and his oxygen level was very low, still the doctor of the hospital allegedly did not recommended him for admission and due to the medical practitioner’s negligence, the man died while waiting for an ambulance.

The family sought an appropriate compensation for the loss of life of the deceased due to complete mismanagement and criminal negligence of the authorities.

Senior advocate Mehra informed the court that the state government is proposing to give ex gratia relief of ₹50,000 each to families of Covid-19 victims and that the proposal will be placed before the cabinet next week.

The court was hearing the petition filed by the parents and wife of Naveen, who died of Covid-19 on the intervening night of April 26-27 allegedly due to want of medical attention and doctor’s negligence.

MRP of oxygen concentrators

The Centre also informed the court that pricing authority NPPA has initiated the process to fix a formula to determine the MRP of oxygen concentrators, needed for Covid-19 treatment, as people were being charged exorbitantly. The process for fixing the formula for MRP is likely to be concluded and the court will be informed about the development on May 31, the Centre said.

Justice Sanghi observed that the pricing formula was important as most of the manufacturers were not putting MRP or maximum retail price on oxygen concentrators and were not readily available in shops.

“It is not that it is available at Khan Market, it is through the back door only that people have been able to secure oxygen concentrators,” he said.

In a lighter vein, Justice Singh added “actually this time it was available only at Khan Market”.