HC mandates establishment of expert panel to address infrastructure and staffing challenges in government hospitals

PTI, Feb 13, 2024, 3:22 PM IST

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered constitution of an expert committee to effectively deal with the problem of inadequate infrastructure and manpower plaguing government hospitals in the national capital.

A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan said the expert committee would come up with ways to augment manpower and infrastructure in state-run hospitals, and shall submit its first report to the court in four weeks.

”The court is of the opinion that huge investment as well as structural reforms in functioning of government hospitals without entering into blame game is the need of the hour,” the bench, also comprising Justice Manmeet PS Arora, said.

”We deem it expedient to appoint a committee of experts to make recommendations. (The committee would) suggest ways for optimising the existing resources in hospitals in Delhi owned and run by the Centre, Delhi government and MCD,” the court stated.

A detailed copy of the order is awaited.

The court’s order came on a PIL it had initiated on its own in 2017 over alleged lack of ICU beds and ventilators in government hospitals.

Justice Manmohan said, ”Not much progress seems to have been made” in spite of the proceedings.

The court noted that a man died recently after being denied treatment by three Delhi government hospitals and one run by the central government on various pretexts including non-availability of ICU/ventilator bed or CT scan.