The Delhi High Court recently constituted a committee of experts to assess the medical infrastructure of the state-run hospitals in the capital and to suggest ways for the optimisation of existing resources.
The expert committee was formed taking suo moto cognisance on the availability of intensive care unit (ICU) beds with ventilator facilities in Delhi government hospitals and functioning of emergency numbers.
The six-member panel includes Dr SK Sarin, chancellor of ILBS; Dr Nikhil Tandon, professor and head of the department of endocrinology and metabolism at AIIMS; Dr DK Sharma, Dr RP Eye Centre, AIIMS; Dr Suresh Kumar, director, Lok Nayak hospital; Dr Piyush Gupta, professor of paediatrics and principal, University College of Medical Sciences; and Dr Deepak K Tempe, vice chancellor, ILBS.
The bench led by acting Chief Justice Manmoha entrusted the committee with recommending measures to ensure the availability of uninterrupted supply of medicine, consumables, and adequate manpower to operate high end equipment and critical care units in government hospitals. The bench also directed the panel to submit an interim report within four weeks, and submit monthly reports thereafter.
The bench observed that it is apparent that the infrastructure is woefully inadequate at Delhi hospitals. It noted that with only six CT Scan machines being available in nineteen Delhi Government hospitals, the infrastructure needs to be ramped up manifold. The bench emphasized that in cases of emergencies like serious accident victims or strokes or heart attacks, there is no time to shift the patients to private clinics for scans. It underlined that without critical infrastructure being available at Delhi Government hospitals, the golden hour of saving a life may be lost.
The court added that it is of the view that huge investments along with structural reforms in the functioning of Government hospitals, without entering into a blame game, are the need of the hour to overcome years of neglect and apathy which can only be done if there is a consensus on measures to be adopted both in the short and long term.