‘AIIMS, Delhi government need to coordinate on Covid-19 treatment’

NEW DELHI: Delhi high court observed that there seemed to be a lack of communication between the AAP government and AIIMS after it found that several Covid-19 positive patients were shifted to other hospitals instead of the dedicated facility at the premier healthcare institution.
While ordering that amenities at a night shelter in AIIMS be improved immediately, a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar directed the premier hospital and Delhi government to appoint nodal officers to communicate and coordinate with each other over Covid-19 patients and their treatment.
The bench made the observation after noting that over 20 patients being treated at AIIMS for non-Covid ailments were transferred to Delhi government hospitals after they tested positive for coronavirus while staying at the night shelter.
The government alleged that AIIMS was not accessible by the common man and it was turning away Covid-19 patients unless they were well-connected and influential, a charge hotly denied by the hospital’s lawyer.
Meanwhile, the court also ordered Delhi government and DUSIB to ensure that night shelters near government hospitals only have patients awaiting treatment and all occupants found Covid-19 positive be quarantined so that they don’t infect others.
“It is well-known that patients travel hundreds and thousands of kilometres to avail treatment facilities at places such as AIIMS. Many of them are poor and cannot afford to rent any accommodation in Delhi. It is for people like these that night shelters are created in areas around hospitals,” the court observed, while directing DUSIB to ensure that only patients and their immediate attendants be permitted to occupy the night shelters at AIIMS and other such facilities in the vicinity of government hospitals.
The court’s direction came after it discovered that only 51 people in the night shelter at AIIMS were tested, while their kin or attendants were allowed to go without testing.“We direct the health department of the government to look into this aspect so that such situations do not recur in future,” the bench stated. It also took note of the shortcomings at the night shelter at AIIMS brought out during its inspection on court orders by a volunteer, Rachna Malik, in relation to lack of water, unhygienic sanitation conditions, and having no record of visitors.
“A system should be put in place where sufficient checks and vigilance is maintained with regard to maintenance of facilities at the night shelter in question and other facilities being run and managed by DUSIB,” the court directed.