HC to govt: Don’t leave everything to docs, Gandhi must conduct tests
Court Pulls Up Top Official On Covid Tests
SagarKumar.Mutha@timesgroup.com
Hyderabad: 15.07.2020
Driving home the message that state government should not rely heavily on doctors in implementing its Covid-19 strategy, the Telangana high court on Tuesday pulled up Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr Ramesh Reddy for his stand that they will not conduct Covid-19 tests at Gandhi Hospital, but would admit positive patients for treatment.
Directing advocate general BS Prasad to convey the message to the government, a bench, comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, said that Gandhi Hospital has to test and treat people and it cannot throw away patients who knock its doors in distress. “There is no point in asking the critical patients to run from pillar to post in the last minute. You are the nodal hospital for Covid-19 and you have the state-of-the-art facilities to test and treat. You have to do it simultaneously,” the bench said, while hearing PILs filed by R Vatsan and Siva Ganesh Karnati, who wanted the state to do tests at Gandhi Hospital and be transparent about availability of facilities.
Petitioner’s counsel Vasudha Nagaraj told the court that the stand was resulting in deaths of patients right in front of Gandhi Hospital. However, DME Ramesh Reddy insisted that they would admit only those patients who come to them with a Covid-19 positive certificate. Initially, he contended that they do not have adequate testing facilities. Public health director Dr G Srinivas Rao told the bench that 1,500 rapid antigen testing kits were supplied to Gandhi Hospital on Monday night. The CJ asked AG to get a response from government by July 24.
Delay in removing body at Gandhi
Hyderabad: With Gandhi Hospital staff on strike, the body of a patient who had succumbed at 1 pm was not removed from the ward for a few hours, creating unrest. Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital, Dr Raja Rao said, “The patient expired around 1:00 pm. We need to take ECG to confirm and document the death which was delayed. The body was cleared late because only few workers are available today because of the strike.”
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