Covid-19 crisis: Hand over health services to Army, Patna HC tells Nitish govt

Anguished and pained over the inept handling of the Covid-19 crisis in the state, which led to several hundred deaths in the last fortnight, the Patna High Court suggested that the Nitish Kumar government should hand over health services to the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) if it was not competent enough to handle the situation.

A division bench of the Patna High Court, comprising Justices Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Mohit Kumar Shah, asked the Centre’s Additional Solicitor General (ASG) K N Singh to speak to the Defence Secretary regarding handing over the health service of Bihar to AFMS.

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Coming down heavily on the Nitish government for its poor handling of the pandemic, the HC asked state Advocate General Lalit Kishore to file an affidavit by 10.30 am on Thursday about what steps the government had taken to stem the spread. “We will resume hearing on Thursday at 11 am and pass an appropriate order if required,” the HC bench observed.

The court was all the more peeved when the Advocate General said it was a sorry situation that despite putting in best efforts, the court was not reposing faith in the state government.

“The state government should feel sorry... In fact, we feel ashamed of ourselves that since April 15, we have been reposing trust in the action and assurances of the government... We feel ashamed that we only passed orders. Rather, we should have adopted a pro-active approach instead of relying on Bihar government’s assurances. We could not intervene properly to protect the fundamental right to life of the people under Article 21,” the High Court said.

The matter would be heard again on May 6.

Meanwhile, Bihar has enforced complete lockdown in the state from May 5 to May 15.