VIJAYAWADA: The State government on Tuesday informed the Andhra Pradesh High Court that negligence of the contractor, who supplies oxygen to the hospital, led to the deaths of Covid patients in SVR Ruia Government General Hospital.
Appearing on behalf of the State government, government pleader T Balaswamy submitted to the division bench comprising Chief Justice AK Goswami and Justice N Jayasurya that the said action has been taken for the removal of the contractor. Further, he explained that the alarm system for alerting in case of drop in pressure in supply of oxygen failed to work.
All these were explained in the report submitted by the district collector to the government and the same has been submitted to the court, he added. TDP leader and former SAAP chairman PR Mohan filed a Public Interest Litigation seeking action against those who are responsible for 40 plus deaths in SVR Ruia Government Hospital due to shortage of oxygen.
Petitioner’s counsel Balaji Vaddera said as the collector’s report has made it clear that there was negligence in the Ruia Hospital incident, criminal cases should be registered against them in Alipiri police station. He argued that the government is acting in a biased manner in sanctioning ex-gratia to the families of the victims in the Ruia accident, compared to the victims of LG Polymers Gas leak accident in Visakhapatnam. Hearing arguments of both the sides, the division bench directed the government to file a detailed affidavit and adjourned the case hearing after two weeks.
HC expresses dismay over release of only 179 out of 6620 prisoners
The High Court on Tuesday expressed dismay over the release of only 179 of 6,620 prisoners from the jails in the state in view of Covid19. The bench directed the director general (Jails) to submit a detailed affidavit on the policy adopted for the release of prisoners on interim bail and who are eligible for such bails. The case hearing was adjourned by two weeks.
Only Drugs Controller General has right to increase shelf life of drugs
Assistant Solicitor General Harinath on Tuesday informed the High Court that only the Drugs Controller General has the rights to extend the shelf life of any drug. Government pleader T Balaswamy also informed the same. A division bench was hearing a suo-motu petition based on a letter in which a person said some staff in hospitals are changing labels of Remdesivir injections.