The plea in the Delhi High Court wants a control on the cost of treatment incurred by Covid patients in private hospitals. The plea has also sought a direction to private hospitals to publish on its website the regulated rates as well as show in prominent places inside the hospitals. The plea adds that punitive action for non-compliance should also be there.
The plea comes up for hearing on May 31.
The plea has been filed by advocate Vivek Aggarwal and seeks the following directions to the Central Government and Delhi Government:
• Direction to establish a committee headed by a retired judge of the High Court of Delhi to keep a check on admissions of Covid-19 patients and implementation of admission policy and further direct the said committee to conduct regular audits to ensure compliance of the admissions policy and penalize defaulting private hospitals.
• Directions to create and implement a policy to establish a supply chain of the drug Remdesivir and drug Tocilizumab directly to hospitals only on the price cap/regulated price of the drug Remdesivir and drug Tocilizumab respectively as and when fixed by the Union of India and further restrain the Governments from supplying the drug Remdesivir and drug Tocilizumab to private physicians, pharmacists, chemists, entities and other bodies who are black marketing the said medicines.
• Direction to establish a committee headed by a retired judge of the High Court of Delhi to keep a check on admissions of Covid-19 patients and implementation of admission policy and further direct the said committee to conduct regular audits to ensure compliance of the admissions policy and penalize defaulting private hospitals.
• Direction to create and implement a policy to establish a supply chain of the drug Remdesivir and drug Tocilizumab directly to hospitals only on the price cap/regulated price of the drug Remdesivir and drug Tocilizumab respectively as and when fixed by the Union of India (respondent no.1) and further restrain the respondents from supplying the drug Remdesivir and drug Tocilizumab to private physicians, pharmacists, chemists, entities and other bodies who are black marketing the said medicines.
• Directions to establish a committee headed by a retired judge of the High Court of Delhi to keep a check on the production, supply and usage of drug Remdesivir and drug Tocilizumab in hospitals and create a database thereof and conduct regular audits to ensure requisite supply is provided to the hospitals in need.
• Direction to appoint nodal officers in hospitals to look into the sale of drug Remdesivir and Tocilizumab at the regulated price decided by the Government in consultation with the respective hospital administration and establish an online portal which is updated hourly to track the availability and usage of the drug Remdesivir and drug Tocilizumab in respective hospitals and in every district.
• Direction to establish 24*7 national, state and local helplines to address the enquiries regarding the availability of the drug Remdesivir and drug Tocilizumab and further set up centralized control rooms at district level to provide information on the availability of the drug Remdesivir, drug Tocilizumab, and availability of beds.
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• Direction to regulate the price of oxygen cylinders and concentrators and further regulate the price for refilling the oxygen cylinders and concentrators.
• Direction for thorough investigation by a duly formed Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the sale of the drug Remdesivir and drug Tocilizumab, sale of oxygen cylinders, concentrators, allotment of beds in hospitals for money.