Delhi Govt Says Trying Its Best to Set up Better Infra, Provide Quality Healthcare to Covid-19 Patients after SC Criticism

Hours after being criticised by the Supreme Court over the state of hospitals in the city, the Delhi government on Friday described it as "an extraordinary situation" and said it is trying its best from the very first day to set up better infrastructure and to provide quality healthcare to all COVID-19 patients.

The Supreme Court on Friday called patient care during the Covid-19 pandemic in Delhi "horrendous" and "pathetic", and sought an explanation from the NCT government in five days. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan minced no words in also reproaching the Arvind Kejriwal government for handling of dead bodies in its hospitals, regretting this as a "very sorry state of affairs".

The Delhi government in a statement said: "LNJP Hospital is the biggest COVID-19 hospital in Delhi and right now around 2,000 beds are operational here for the COVID-19 patients. Many critical patients from the central government and the private hospitals in Delhi are being referred to the LNJP hospital for better medication. So far, over 2100 patients from LNJP hospital have successfully recovered from COVID-19 infection and returned to their homes."

"The frontline workers in our hospitals, our doctors and nursing staff, are working day and night to serve the people. Many doctors have not visited their homes in the last 2 months because of their hospital duty," it added.

The government said the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team visited the LNJP hospital on Thursday and expressed its satisfaction after scrutinising facilities at the hospital. The government said it would appraise the Supreme Court about this.