TS told to increase testing capacity
The direction came in light of a trend which the Court observed wherein the government was increasing the number of tests merely on the dates adjoining the hearing of this Court.
Hyderabad: A panel of the Telangana High Court comprising of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy directed the State government to take various measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and improve the infrastructure to deal with the second wave of Covid-infections. The Court directed the State Government to increase the testing to a capacity of one lakh per day.
The direction came in light of a trend which the Court observed wherein the government was increasing the number of tests merely on the dates adjoining the hearing of this Court. Sriranga Pujitha, the counsel for one of the Petitioners Varun Sankineni, submitted that the Government has not provided a Disaster management plan nor have they issued clear observations concerning complaints received against private hospitals.
Kowturu Pawan Kumar the counsel for another Petitioner, Surya Balu Mahendra stated that the State failed in increasing the number of RT-PCR labs as directed under the previous order. The counsel further submitted that an increase in the number of tests to one lakh per day would require a correlative increase in the number of testing labs. Justice B Vijaysen Reddy remarked that a stricter approach than the guidelines of WHO needs to be implemented in countries like India due to the population concentration.
Dr G Srinivas Rao, Director of Public Health who appeared before the Court stated that the Government of Telangana was taking the best possible efforts and the control of the pandemic would not be possible without the public cooperating in the fight. The Court recorded the submissions of counsel, Naresh Reddy who stated that in Nirmal District individuals were forced to take antigen tests due to the limited availability of testing kits.
The Court further directed the State to look into ICMR recommended tests which have proved to be more effective than the RT-PCR tests The Court adjourned the case after 26.11.2020 for further hearing directing the State to increase testing to 1 lakh per day and Petitioners to file data of testing done in the past 3 months.
Pvt hospital to file counter for reserving beds
The panel in another case filed by Omim Maneckshaw Debara for reserving beds in two leading private hospitals for poor patients free of cost directed the respondent hospitals to file a counter.
The Court reiterated the submissions of Dr G Srinivas Rao, Director of Public Health wherein he said that when the State is providing facilities to people in government hospitals they should avail those facilities and not look for concessions in private hospitals. The counsel for the Petitioner stated that the infrastructure in these hospitals is not up to the mark and hence the need to give Covid patients an option that people would prefer private establishments. Apollo Hospitals the party in the present case were directed to record their reasons for not providing adequate concessions as requested by the petitioner through a counter-affidavit.
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