Delhi Constable's death shows hospital's reckless attitude: NHRC

The death of a young Delhi Police Constable, who tested positive for COVID-19, showed "reckless and negligent" attitude of hospitals, which may be "lacking in infrastructure and right approach" to deal with the situation, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said on Tuesday.

Constable Amit Kumar (32) died last week while he was being taken to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, a day after another hospital refused to admit him though he had shown symptoms for COVID-19 infection.

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The NHRC issued notices to the Union Home Secretary and Delhi Chief Secretary seeking reports from them, which should also have Standard Operating Procedure adopted by the hospitals for the COVID-19 patients and status of its implementation. The reports should be submitted within four weeks.

In its observations, the NHRC said police personnel, doctors and paramedical staff are frontline fighters to tackle COVID-19 virus and denial of admission in the hospital to a policeman, "who had been doing his duty sincerely", was is a "matter of concern".

"Timely treatment to the young constable may have saved his life. The reported incident seemingly also sends a message that the patients are, perhaps, not being attended by the hospitals and COVID-19 centres, as per standard protocol set by the agencies concerned. It shows the reckless and negligent attitude of the hospital authorities," the NHRC said.

It also indicated that "perhaps the hospital authorities are lacking in infrastructure and right approach to deal" with COVID-19 patients. The hospitals are required to tackle the situation very sensibly with a humane approach, it said.

The Constable was first taken to Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital by one of his colleagues where a COVID-19 test was conducted but was not admitted in the hospital. The victim, later, complained of breathlessness and was taken to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital but he could not reach hospital and died on the way.

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Before being taken to Deep Chand Bandhu hospital, the NHRC said Kumar was taken to a COVID-19 centre at Haidarpur from where he was diverted to the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital. The patient was kept waiting for hours and then he was taken to Deepchand Bandhu hospital from where he was referred to a COVID-19 centre at Ashok Vihar where the doctors agreed to admit him on condition that he will have to manage everything on his own. The colleague accompanying him told them that he is not even able to talk and will not be able to manage.