Delhi, Maharashtra fail to check COVID-19; SC calls patient care 'horrendous, horrific and pathetic' in capital

New Delhi: Until recently, people in India were shocked to see helplessness and sufferings of COVID-19 patients in countries like Italy, Spain, America, and their deaths, but the same situation is now being replicated in our country. People are seen running from pillar to post to admit their near and dear ones in hospitals in metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai, where health infrastructure appears to have failed to provide medical care to a rising number of coronavirus patients.

Like the United States and a few European countries, dead bodies are now seen lying on hospital beds, mortuaries, and at crematoriums in the national capital and in the corporate capital of India where the state governments seem to be a silent spectator to the situation despite their tall claims. 

With the highest single-day spike of 2,137 COVID-19 cases on Friday, the total tally in Delhi crossed the 36,000-mark as the death toll due to the disease climbed to 1,214. According to a health bulletin of the Delhi health department, 71 fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours. This is the first time that over 2,000 cases have been reported in a day in Delhi. The previous biggest jump in fresh cases at 1,877 was recorded on Thursday.

In Maharashtra, nearly 3,500 new cases reported in the last 24 hours with 127 fatalities. The state`s COVID-19 tally has crossed the one lakh mark today, with the total number of coronavirus cases of 1,01,141 with 127 fatalities. Whereas 1,718 were discharged on Friday, making a total count for discharged patients after making a full recovery to 47,793 in the state. Notably, Mumbai alone has reported 1,372 fresh COVID-19 cases, 90 deaths, and 943 discharged cases, according to the Municipal Corporation Greater Mumbai

The condition of Delhi is becoming similar to Mumbai, which had overtaken the Chinese city of Wuhan as far as coronavirus infections are concerned. There were about 50,000 cases in Wuhan, while Mumbai now has around 54,000 infected persons. The rate of COVID-19 positive cases in Mumbai is more than 30 percent. If we talk about the whole Maharashtra, it has surpassed countries like China, Japan, Canada, Indonesia in case of COVID-19 infections. 

Looking at the horrific situation in the capital, the Supreme Court today tore into the Delhi government over the "sorry state of affairs" for treatment of COVID-19 patients at its hospitals, calling the situation in the national capital "horrendous, horrific and pathetic".

Even as the top court issued notice and sought response of the Centre, the government of Delhi and four other states on the treatment of coronavirus patients in state-run hospitals, the AAP government faced the ire of the judges over reports of "horrific scenes" at Delhi's COVID-19 dedicated Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP) hospital where dead bodies lay in the wards next to coronavirus patients.

Directing Chief Secretaries of the National Capital Territory (NCT), Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat to take "remedial action" ensuring proper management of patients at hospitals, a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah observed that apart from Delhi, the situation was "grim" at the hospitals there as well vis-a-vis treatment of coronavirus patients and handling of the dead bodies.

On the handling of the bodies of COVID-19 victims by states, the SC said there was "no proper adherence to the guidelines" of the health ministry and the hospitals are not giving "due care and concern to the dead bodies". 

"The patients' relatives are not even informed for several days of the death of the patient as has been reported in the media. It is also brought to our notice that the details of cremation as to when the dead body will be cremated are not even informed to their close relatives due to which the families of the patients are not even able to see the dead bodies or attend their last funeral rites," it observed.

The apex court said the duty of the Delhi government does not end by informing the citizens that it has arranged 5,814 beds in government hospitals and 9,535 beds including in private hospitals. The top court said it has taken cognizance of the issue on the basis of media reports presenting "horrific scenes from LNJP hospital and certain videos which indicate the pathetic condition of the patients admitted in the hospital and the deplorable condition of the wards".

"The patients are in the wards and the dead bodies are also in the same wards. Dead bodies are seen also in the lobby and waiting area. The patients were not supplied with any oxygen support or any other support, no saline drips were shown with the beds and there was no one to attend the patients. Patients are crying and there is no one to attend them. This is the condition of the Government Hospital of Delhi which has a capacity of 2,000 beds," the SC observed, adding the situation in Delhi is "horrendous, horrific and pathetic".

The Supreme Court also questioned why the Delhi government has reduced the testing capacity while other states are working to ramp it up. "Why has the testing gone down in Delhi while it has increased in other states such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu? Do you want artificial figures? Not testing cannot be the solution. Increasing the testing capacity is the duty of every state," said the top court.

The Delhi government was directed to increase the testing capacity and ensure nobody who wants to be tested for COVID-19 is denied the facility. The apex court then issued a formal notice to the AAP government, seeking explanations on all three aspects of the treatment of patients, handling of dead bodies as well as increasing the testing capacity.

The national capital is heading towards a gloomy scenario. According to the Delhi government's own assessment, by the end of July, there will be 5.5 lakh COVID-19 patients in the capital, which will then need 80,000 hospital beds. Currently, there are about 9,000 beds available in different hospitals, of which about 4000 are empty. Most of these empty beds are in the government hospitals where people are afraid to get admitted because of the chaotic situation. 

On the contrary, people going to private hospitals are virtually being robbed as they are charged heavily. Patients are asked cough up Rs 4 to 8 lakh in advance and if they spend 10 days in a private hospital, they end up paying not less than Rs 5 to 6 lakh.