Delhi HC seeks Wangchuk’s medical reports, defers transfer plea

The Delhi High Court directed Safdarjung Hospital to submit Sonam Wangchuk's medical reports and health bulletins before deciding on his wife's plea to shift him to a private hospital. The court said its primary concern was safeguarding the fasting activist's life

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Safdarjung Hospital here to file Sonam Wangchuk’s pathological reports and health bulletins and said that it would take a call on Tuesday on the plea by the fasting activist’s wife Gitanjali Angmo to shift him to a private facility.

Asserting that its concern was to “save” Wangchuk’s life, the court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to bring on record a complete compilation of his medical reports.

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The bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia was hearing an appeal by Angmo against a Sunday order of the high court refusing to interfere with his ongoing treatment at the central government hospital.

“We direct that all pathological reports of the husband of the appellant, based on samples analysed at the labs of Safdarjung and AIIMS and a private lab, shall be filed on an affidavit sworn by the director of respondent no. 4 (Safdarjung Hospital),” the court ordered.

“It is directed that the respondent no 4, while filing the affidavit, will also bring on record all the medical bulletins issued by it from time to time,” it added.

“The report should include today’s sample analysis”, said the bench.
It asked the In-charge director of AIIMS as well as the AIIMS emergency doctor treating Wangchuk to be present at the hearing on Tuesday, and also sought the presence of the doctor who was treating him earlier.

The Safdarjung hospital had on Sunday said Wangchuk had been given required medical care by the treating teams of doctors from VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital and AIIMS, New Delhi.

“The court’s concern is to save his life first. We are not concerned with any other thing. Therefore whatever samples you have analysed please compile these report and file it on affidavit,” the court said.

The bench also asked Angmo to file the reports of Wangchuk’s blood analysis, which were stated to have been undertaken at her behest at a private lab.

Senior advocate Akhil Sibal, arguing on behalf of Angmo, said Wangchuk was picked up from Jantar Mantar on Saturday and taken to Safdarjung without any consultation and in the absence of any medical emergency, purportedly under 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 said the sequence of events has resulted in a “loss of trust”, and Wangchuk, who was not under any detention, should be permitted to be discharged from Safdarjung Hospital.

He emphasised that even at present, Wangchuk was not in an ICU, was cogent and conscious, and should not be coerced into staying at Safdarjung Hospital.

The court was also informed that Wangchuk wrote a letter to the hospital to permit him to participate in the Cockroach Janta Party-led march to the Parliament, which was not acceded to.

Sibal further said that a hunger strike was a recognised mode of protest in a democracy. The bench said that while it agreed that Wangchuk’s reports ought to be shared with his family, it cannot comment on the opinion of doctors who are experts.

It also questioned whether doctors should wait for a patient to be admitted to the ICU before administering any treatment. Responding to the appellant’s claim of discrepancy in test reports with respect to his potassium levels, the bench observed that there was bound to be some difference in reports prepared by different labs and any report has to be corroborated by clinical examination of the patient.

It also said that if Wangchuk was shifted to a private hospital of his choice, the appellant’s suggestion to involve the government doctors there might not be feasible.

Defending Wangchuk’s treatment at the government hospital, SG Tushar Mehta said 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 does not deteriorate further and result in a law and order crisis.

The bench, earlier, agreed to hear the matter on an urgent basis after Angmo’s senior counsel mentioned it. In her appeal, Angmo contended that the single judge’s Sunday order illegally confines Wangchuk to Safdarjung Hospital without any arrest and effectively directs that neither the activist nor his wife has decisive authority in determining his medical treatment.

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

The single judge had opined that no interim order to immediately transfer the activist was required at this stage. The observation came on a petition filed by Angmo seeking permission to shift him to a private facility.

The order said Safdarjung doctors were closely monitoring the activist, and it could not be said that any force was being used against him in violation of his bodily integrity.

“It is to be noted that the ultimate decision with regard to the medical condition of Mr Wangchuk would be monitored by the medical team attending him, which shall take a decision as per the medical protocol,” the single judge had said.

Angmo had sought an urgent hearing on her petition on Sunday too, 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 on Saturday. Wangchuk has been on a hunger strike since June 28 over alleged irregularities in competitive examinations and the deaths of several students linked to the NEET paper cancellation earlier.