Enough is enough, water is above head: Delhi HC to Centre

NEW DELHI: "Water has gone above the head. Enough is enough… We can't shut our eyes to people dying in Delhi," the Delhi high court told the Centre on Saturday, directing it to supply the capital its allocated daily quota of

oxygen

. It added that if its order was not complied with, it would consider initiating contempt proceedings.



Justices Vipin Sanghi and

Rekha Palli

took note of the eight deaths in Batra Hospital on Saturday due to delay in supply of medical oxygen. "You (Centre) have made an allocation, you fulfil… We can't have people dying. Eight patients have died at Batra due to lack of oxygen...Therefore, does it mean we will shut our eyes to people dying in Delhi?" the court remarked.

The court later passed an order directing the central government to ensure that Delhi received its allocated supply of "490 MT positively today by whatever means".

"Considering the fact that Delhi is not an industrial state and does not have availability of

cryogenic tankers

of its own which could be requisitioned under the Disaster Management Act — like other states have done — it falls upon the central government to arrange the tankers as well, so that the allocation made to Delhi could be fulfilled, lest it remains only a paper allocation. The central government shall ensure availability of cryogenic tankers as well for the said supply," the court said.

"Pertinently, the allocation to Delhi, which was earlier 480 MT (since April 20, 2021) and is now 490 MT, has not been fulfilled even for a single day. In case this order is not implemented, the concerned officers of the central government, viz. Mr Piyush Goyal and Ms Sunita Dawra, shall remain present during the hearing on May 3, 2021. Looking at the situation, we make it clear that we may even consider initiating contempt proceedings in case of non-compliance," the court said.

During the hearing, Dr S Bankata, executive director, Batra Hospital, informed the court that there had been a delay in oxygen supply due to which the supply at the hospital was interrupted for about an hour and a half, leading to the loss of eight lives, including a doctor.

Delhi government’s counsel, senior advocate Rahul Mehra, said they had received an SOS from an officer tasked with the job of ensuring supply to hospitals around 3pm. The officer had told him that the reserves of the Delhi government had been exhausted and there was either no supply or minimal supply from the two dedicated oxygen plants — Linde and Air Liquide — on Saturday.

The court then took note of Mehra’s "serious concerns" as to how the capital would tide over the shortage as a lot of hospitals and nursing homes had either run out of oxygen or were on the verge of exhausting their stock in the next few hours.

Dr Bankata had earlier in the hearing pleaded with the court that the hospital had run out of oxygen for its critical patients, who were on ventilator support. The bench as a result asked the Delhi government to take "immediate, emergent" steps. "Please rush immediately," it had said.

By the time the supply reached the hospital around 1.35pm, there had been a gap of one hour, 20 minutes. The court then asked Dr Bankata, "Hope we haven’t lost anyone." The doctor responded by saying, "We have lost… eight patients, including one doctor."

The high court, meanwhile, pointed out that big medical facilities in the city should learn from the pandemic and install their own plants.

Additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma urged the bench to consider the multiple factors surrounding the supply of medical oxygen to Delhi and said it was a process that was changing from time to time. The court, however, told him: "Mr Sharma, who is asking for a gram more than what is allocated?"

The court also wanted the Centre to address the concern raised by Mehra over four oxygen tankers of supplier Inox. The tankers, carrying liquid medical oxygen, and registered with the road transport authority of Haryana, had been detained in Rajasthan while being brought to Delhi.

"We had noted these submissions made on behalf of Inox… Mr Tushar Mehta, solicitor general, had given an assurance to the court that strict action will be taken and ensured that the tankers are free for the purpose of supply… We had hoped that Rajasthan would honour the statement of the Centre and the order passed by this court. Mr Mehra submits the stand taken by Rajasthan in the virtual central control room that the said tankers are meant for use in Rajasthan and that they have communicated in this regard to the central government and the Centre has consented to the same… Let this aspect be addressed by the central government when the hearing resumes on Monday," the court said.

The court had previously directed the Delhi government to update the information on its portal about patients’ admissions and discharges made every day at hospitals. "This information shall be updated every day without fail," the court said on Saturday.

On real-time data on availability of ICU beds on the website, the court directed the Delhi government to bifurcate the category into oxygenated and non-oxygenated beds so that patients were aware of their availability in hospitals and nursing homes.

Looking at the current wave, deaths, shortage of hospital beds and allegations of malpractices, like patients not being discharged after having recovered from the disease, the court directed the medical superintendents or directors of all hospitals of both government and private hospitals and nursing homes to provide daily details of admissions of Covid patients from April 1, 2021 onwards.

It further directed them to provide information on the number of patients discharged each day from April 1; the number of patients who were hospitalised for 10 days or more; and the type of beds occupied by such patients. The information should be sent by Tuesday. This aspect shall be considered on Thursday.

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