Delhi High Court- In a writ petition filed seeking direction to the respondents to perform the hip and knee replacement surgery on the petitioner free of cost, the Division Bench of Manmohan Acting C.J.*, Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora. J., while accepting the recommendation made by the Committee constituted by this Court for the purpose of streamlining the process and curing the defects in current medical system for availing financial assistance under various government schemes in the hospitals of National Capital region, directed the Chief Secretary, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) to take steps for better implementation of recommendations.
The Court during the pendency of present petition accepted the recommendations made by the Committee constituted by the Division Bench of this Court vide order dated 20-09-2023, for alleviating and curing the defects in the current medical system to avail financial assistance.
The recommendation accepted by the Court were-
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The Committee suggested that a Nodal Officer should be appointed by all Central or Delhi government hospitals, MCD hospitals or autonomous hospitals including AIIMS, who will ensure all due requisite required for availing financial assistance.
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Single window mechanism for the convenience of patients shall be implemented/enhanced in all the hospitals.
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Upgradation of each and every Government hospital’s website as dynamic website for real time updates on availability of medicines, implants and devices and ensure Electronic Display System accessible to visitors/patients for the dynamic information of list of drugs, implants and devices on the website of concerned departments, which may be revised frequently.
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The hospitals are advised to be more proactive for treatment and expedite the approval process preferably within 7 days and Delhi Arogya Kosh (DAK) should sanction important cases preferably within 7 days.
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The hospital staff responsible for implementation of these schemes may be sensitized to create a patient friendly environment and shall be trained in better communication skills.
In view of the aforesaid report, petitioner prayed that the present writ petition be closed. Thus thie Court directed the Chief Secretary, GNCTD to ensure the implementation of the said recommendations and convene monthly meetings till all the recommendations get implemented and action taken report shall be filled on or before 15-10-2024.
[Sarvesh v. AIIMS, 2024 SCC OnLine Del 3539, decided on 10-05-2024]
*Judgement Authored by: Acting Chief Justice Manmohan
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Petitioner: Ashok Agarwal, Kumar Utkarsh and Manoj Kumar, Advocates.
For Respondents:
For AIIMS: Satya Ranajan Swain, Panel Counsel, AIIMS, Kautilya Birat, Advocate.
For GNCTD: Tushar Sannu, Karan Singh and Manoviraj Singh, Advocates.
For Union of India: Monika Arora, Central Government Standing Counsel, Subhrodeep Saha, Advocates.
Amicus Curiae: T. Singhdev, Anum Hussain, Tanishq, Abhijit Chakravarty, Bhanu Gulati and Aadbhaas Sukhramani, Advocates.