NEW DELHI: Giving an indication that the existing Covid facilities will not be enough, the Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that temporary makeshift hospitals will be needed in the near future in view of the constant rise in the infection.
“The number of cases are constantly increasing and at some point of time in near future, apart from existing hospitals, a large number of temporary makeshift hospitals will have to be created in order to accommodate COVID-19 patients requiring admission, medical care and treatment,” the affidavit reads. The Centre also said it would create an optimum infrastructure and adequately address the issue of human resource for this envisaged surge capacity scenario.
The affidavit came on a plea filed by Dr Arushi Jain, challenging the central government’s new Standa rd O p e r a t i n g Procedure (SOP) for frontline Covid-19 healthcare workers. The new SOP, issued on 15 May, ended the mandatory 14-day quarantine for healthcare workers. Responding to Dr Jain’s plea, the government told the bench that the healthcare workers had the final responsibility to protect themselves from COVID-19.