Delhi HC orders immediate transfer of Sonam Wangchuk to Medanta Hospital

The Delhi High Court ordered activist Sonam Wangchuk's immediate transfer from Safdarjung Hospital to Medanta Hospital, Gurugram, holding that treatment at a hospital of his choice is part of his fundamental rights while directing continuous medical monitoring by a specialist team

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered immediate shifting of activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on an indefinite fast since June 28 over alleged examination irregularities, from Safdarjung Hospital here to Medanta Hospital in Gurugram.

A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia passed the order on an appeal by the activist’s wife, Gitanjali Angmo, against a Sunday order of the high court refusing to interfere with his ongoing treatment at the central government hospital and direct his transfer to Medanta Hospital.

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The court asked the director of Medanta Hospital to form a team of doctors with requisite expertise to constantly monitor Wangchuk. It said the doctors shall administer medication according to the accepted medical norms and protocol, “to which the husband of the appellant shall abide”. Wangchuk ought to be shifted to a hospital of his choice, which would fulfil his fundamental rights under Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, the court said.

“We accordingly direct that the husband of the appellant shall immediately be shifted to Medanta Hospital, Gurugram. The director of Medanta Hospital shall form a team of doctors having requisite expertise, which shall constantly monitor the medical condition of the husband of the appellant and shall also administer medication as may be required in their opinion in terms of the accepted medical norms and protocols, to which the husband of the appellant shall abide,” the court ordered.

“We are concerned with (Wangchuk’s) fundamental rights. Nothing to do with all that is going on,” the bench remarked, as it closed the proceedings.

It also said that Angmo will be permitted to visit Wangchuk as and when she desires. Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta said the government had no objection to Wangchuk being shifted to Medanta Hospital.

The senior law officer, however, asserted that the activist should not seek discharge from Medanta Hospital against medical advice. “Medanta is a reputed hospital. The government will have no objection if he is shifted to Medanta. The only thing is that he may not get a discharge against medical advice. The irony of the situation today is that those around him want him out irrespective of his health,” Mehta said.

“We will not go into all that. Do not drag the court into all that,” Chief Justice Upadhyaya responded. The court interacted with AIIMS In-charge Director, Dr Nikhil Tandon; the treating doctor from AIIMS, who is part of the team monitoring Wangchuk at Safdarjung Hospital; and the activist’s own doctor, and observed that there was a consensus that the activist needed monitoring.

Dr Tandon said Wangchuk’s reports showed that certain parameters were not within the accepted range, which required monitoring and that his immunity was also low.

“Multiple things are expected when you are fasting. Only because it is expected doesn’t mean that it is normal,” he said. Senior advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing for Angmo, submitted that Wangchuk’s vitals were stable and he should be shifted to Medanta Hospital in furtherance of his fundamental rights under Articles 19 and 21.

He said the activist has also written a letter complaining about his hospitalisation at Safdarjung, which raised issues of surveillance and taking away of his devices.

On Monday, the court had asked Safdarjung Hospital to file Wangchuk’s pathological reports and health bulletins, and said that it would take a call on Tuesday on the plea by his wife to shift him to a private facility.

In her appeal, Angmo contended that the single judge’s Sunday order illegally confined Wangchuk to Safdarjung Hospital without any arrest and effectively directed that neither the activist nor his wife had decisive authority in determining his medical treatment.

On Monday, Angmo’s senior counsel had said Wangchuk was picked up from Jantar Mantar on July 18 and taken to Safdarjung Hospital without any consultation and in the absence of any medical emergency, purportedly in line with the bench’s July 16 order asking the authorities to monitor his health and medically intervene if necessary.

Asserting the right to accept medical treatment or oversight at a hospital of one’s choice and bodily autonomy, Sibal had said the sequence of events had resulted in a “loss of trust”, and Wangchuk, who was not under any detention, should be permitted to be discharged from Safdarjung Hospital.

SG Mehta had then said that this was not a case of an “ordinary individual” who was “sitting at home”, and considering the potential consequences of any “subsequent unforeseen event”, it was the State’s duty to ensure that his health did not deteriorate further and result in a law and order crisis.

In a special Sunday hearing, Justice Mini Pushkarna had refused to interfere with Wangchuk’s treatment at Safdarjung Hospital, stating that the government’s removal of the fasting activist from Jantar Mantar to a government hospital could not be called arbitrary.

Angmo had sought an urgent hearing on her petition before the single judge on Sunday, a day after Delhi Police whisked Wangchuk away from the protest site at Jantar Mantar and forcibly shifted him to Safdarjung Hospital on the 21st day of his hunger strike.