Health Ministry 'feigns' ignorance about COVID-19 hospitals; CIC intervenes

Two Union Ministers provided numbers of COVID-19 hospitals through official channels but the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) refused to publicise the locations of such facilities claiming it has no such details, prompting the Central Information Commission (CIC) to "advise" officials to disclose the information.

The Ministers could not have given such details without the existence of a list but the MoHFW officials have "feigned ignorance of the facts" stated by the Ministers, Chief Information Commissioner Bimal Jhulka said in his order.

Also read: CLC's data of stranded migrant wrokers raise more questions than answers

Acting on a complaint by transparency activist Venkatesh Nayak, who sought district-wise details of COVID-19 hospitals, Jhulka asked the officials to fill the information gap in the battle against COVID-19 by publishing a list of all COVID-19 treatment facilities designated across the country.

Nayak had on April 17 sought the details of facilities designated as COVID-19 hospitals across the country through RTI query with MoHFW, which transferred it to other organisations, including the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

However, he did not receive the required details, which he had requested to be put on MoHFW website, prompting him to approach the CIC.

Nayak pointed out that Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had written an article and posted on the website of government's media arm Press Information Bureau (PIB) on May 5, which said the country had then 700 dedicated Covid-19 hospitals with over two lakh plus isolation beds and 15,000 ICU beds.

On May 13, the MoHFW issued a statement on Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan's review meeting with Punjab government in which he was quoted as saying that the country has 900 dedicated Covid-19 hospitals with 1,79,882 beds and 2,040 dedicated COVID-19 health centres with 1,29,689 beds besides with 8,708 quarantine centres and 5,577 COVID-19 Care Centres with 4,93,101 beds.

In his order, Jhulka said the statements of both the ministers "presuppose the existence of a list of such hospitals and treatments centres" in the custody of MoHFW. Without such a list, he said, the Ministers would not have been able to mention the aggregate figures in their writings and discussions.

"There is no reason why the list of such hospitals and treatment centres cannot be made public suo motu under Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act," Jhulka said.

Referring to Nayak's assertion that the ICMR has already mapped COVID-19 testing centres on Google Map and made it accessible to people, he said there was no reason why a similar list of COVID-19 hospitals and treatment centres could not be made public.

"Important decisions are being made by governments involving huge interventions in the healthcare and daily lives of billions of people as they seek to secure social, economic and cultural well-being of its population and uphold the rule of law. It is essential that the decisions themselves and the senior decision makers involved are thoroughly documented in order for the Governments to remain accountable both during and after the crisis for future generations to be able to learn from these actions," Jhulka said.

Last month, the Central Information Commission had asked the Ministry of Labour and Employment to make public details of stranded migrant labourers after the office of Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) responded to an RTI query by Nayak that such data was not available with it. Following the CIC direction, DH has reported, the office of CLC on June 2 uploaded the data.