BENGALURU: The state government should place on record the standard protocol laid down for functioning of the expert committee appointed to monitor Covid hospitals and Covid Care Centres, said the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar issued the direction, noting that the chart submitted by the government indicated that it has not applied its mind in appointing experts from other fields.
As per the Supreme Court order and subsequent directions of the High Court, the state government constituted the committee headed by Dr CN Manjunath, Director, Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology. The bench said that the job of committees would be easier if a protocol is laid down, and asked the member- secretary of the statelevel committee to respond.
The bench noted that the committees should not only monitor treatment, but also look at several other issues, like availability of ambulances and medicine, maintenance of hygiene, etc. Meanwhile, the bench made it clear that hospitals and medical practitioners should issue death certificates with the cause mentioned as Covid only if that is the exact reason, and if there is some doubt, they should avoid it. The state government must clarify whether hospitals and medical practitioners should issue Form 4 (death at the hospitals) or 4-A (death at other places), the bench ordered.
Hearing on price tomorrow
Directing the state government to file its response on social activist Geetha Misra’s application on allotting
beds to VVIPs, but denying them to the public, the bench said it will hear the plea along with the pricing of PPE kits and other medical equipment on Thursday.