NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday said beds have to reserved in hospitals for treatment of certain categories of people like the President and Prime Minister of the country.
“We can understand if there are some beds which are not used, there will be such situation. If the Prime Minister of India or the President needs treatment, you have to keep a bed reserved for him in a hospital. That category has to be there. You can’t say no,” a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said.
The high court made the reference of reserving beds for certain categories of people while hearing a petition calling for a centralised and transparent system to help Covid-19 patients locate a bed in the hospitals which are allegedly following a ‘VIP culture’ of allocation beds here.
The high court bench said it has already passed various orders in the Covid-19 related matters including directions to the hospitals to provide data of availability and occupancy of beds and details of patients admitted for over 10 days and reasons.
Responding to the remarks of the bench, senior advocate Vivek Sood, appearing for the petitioner, said certainly that category has to be there but emphasised he was only talking about commoners where VIP culture is being followed.
The court said it understands the petitioner’s concerns which are genuine and kept the petition along with other Covid-19 related matters for May 24. The petition by Delhi resident Manjit Singh, who works in hospitality industry, has said that in the present situation of health emergency, where demand for beds is more than its supply, “there should be some mechanism to ensure that allocation of beds to Covid-19 patients in the hospitals across the city is not arbitrary and unreasonable”.