COVID-19 patients being treated worse than animals: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday said COVID-19 patients are being treated even worse than animals while expressing its shock and indignation on a "very sorry state of affairs" in Delhi's hospitals. It also noted that a dead body was found in the garbage.

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Taking up a suo motu matter, a three-judge bench presided over by Justice Ashok Bhushan, pulled up the Delhi government also for reducing the number of COVID-19 tests in the national capital.

"It is a very sorry state of affairs in Delhi and its hospitals, which are not even able to give due care and concern to the dead bodies," the bench said, citing news reports.

The court issued a notice to Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal governments saying the situation was grim over there. It said that states should do more tests to let people know their health status.

The court had on Thursday registered the suo motu case as "In Re: The proper treatment of COVID-19 patients and the dignified handling of dead bodies in hospitals etc". Former Law Minister and Congress leader Ashwini Kumar shot off a letter alleging patients were being ill-treated and the dead bodies were mishandled.

"Things have gone bad in Delhi," the bench said, pointing out that the number of daily tests has been reduced from 7,000 to 5,000 in Delhi, whereas it was being increased everywhere else. "There should be infrastructure, there need to be beds, patients are not being looked after, this is a deplorable state of affairs," the bench added.

“Please see the deplorable conditions of people in hospitals, dead bodies are lying in the ward - we are concerned about the living too," the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M R Shah, said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the Ministry of Home Affairs had already issued guidelines on dignified handling of the dead bodies.

The court noted the horrific scenes from Delhi as shown in news reports, where patients have been left in pathetic conditions and dead bodies were lying in the lobby, waiting area, and in wards in Delhi's hospitals.

The court also pointed out that reports also indicated that patients, suffering from COVID-19 were running from pillar to post to get admission in hospital whereas various beds in government hospitals were lying vacant. It put the matter for further consideration on Wednesday.