The Delhi High Court division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli, that has been hearing several pleas on the larger issue of Covid-19 management in the capital, has issued notice on a petition seeking a fair and transparent system for the allocation of hospital beds in Delhi.
Sr. Adv. Vivek Sood appearing for the petitioner urged the court that bed allocation couldn't continue on a "first come first serve basis" and at some point a transparent mechanism had to be put in place for the same.
On the oft-repeated suggestion of the creation of a wait-list for allocation of beds, the court said that the same couldn't be feasible as, even if one person were in the first position on the wait-list there may be another further back on it, who may need the bed more.
Responding to it, Sood argued, "This can't be a jungle raj."
The amicus curiae in the matter, Sr. Adv. Rajshekhar Rao, opined that while he appreciated that the petitioner was perhaps suggesting the following of "the Bombay Model", he suggested that the system could perhaps be put in place for "future beds".
The PIL prayed for directions to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi to create an accountable, fair and transparent mechanism for allocating beds to Covid-19 patients, and to set up a Centralized Agency along with Help-Desks outside every Covid-19 Hospital for helping the patients locate a bed in another hospital, who cannot be admitted in that particular hospital.
