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‘70% hospital beds vacant’: NHRC cites plea, asks Delhi & Centre to reply
NHRC has issued notice to centre and Delhi government on a complaint filed by Congress leader Ajay Maken
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India has issued notices to the Delhi government and the union government on a complaint by senior Congress leader Ajay Maken alleging 70% of beds in Delhi hospitals are lying unused while coronavirus patients are being turned away in the city.
The NHRC says that Ajay Maken has provided data along with his complaint to cite the “difficulties” faced by Covid-19 patients in Delhi, which if true, highlights the “inappropriate” behavior of the authorities. The national rights body, therefore, has directed the central and the Delhi government officials to consult and file a comprehensive report within 10 days.
An official press statement from NHRC cites the complaint filed by Maken on Tuesday to raise concern over reports of suspected coronavirus patients running from one hospital to another for admission without luck.
“The chart provided by the complainant indicates that the NCT of Delhi has a robust hospital infrastructure of 57,194 beds. It has a significant presence of Central government Hospitals also but it is painful to see that only 12% of the Delhi Government, 8% of the Central Government institutions and 7% of the Private Hospital beds are presently occupied and are being used to treat Covid patients,” said the official statement from NHRC.
It further highlights that the Congress leader has demanded for setting aside 70% of all hospital beds in Delhi for Covid patients.
“It is further stated that in Delhi around 70% dedicated beds are still lying vacant. While the residents of Delhi are struggling hard to fetch a bed in times of Corona crises, the Delhi government, despite confirming availability of beds, is not providing the same to the patients who need them to save their lives,” the statement says.
Maken’s complaint to the human rights body adds that 33 out of the 38 health institutions under the Delhi government are not accepting Covid patients as only 5 hospitals have been designated as Covid Hospitals making people run from pillar to post in search of treatment for Covid-19, says NHRC statement.
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The human rights body adds that Maken has also alleged that an adequate number of tests to identify coronavirus patients are not being done by the Delhi government. The complaint has also alleged that cremations of Coved-19 positive patients are being delayed leading to a crisis.
“The Complainant has further stated that cremations are taking upto 5-6 days after death and relatives of the deceased have been found struggling to find slots,” the NHRC release says
The human rights body has also sought to know the government’s response to allegations that it has tweaked the definition of containment zones which is proving to be counter-productive to disease containment goals.
“On 29th April, when there were just 3439 COVID positive patients, Delhi had 102 containment zones. At a time when Delhi has around 30,000 positive cases, the containment zones are merely 183,” NHRC says quoting Maken’s complaint.
It adds that according to the complainant, opening up areas affected with the virus, is a dangerous practice which will increase the outspread of the coronavirus endangering human lives across the national capital.
