Gujarat records new Covid-19 peak, HC seeks details of government measures

The special division bench of Gujarat High Court on Monday pulled up the state government for mishandling the coronavirus situation and asked them to file an affidavit detailing measures it has taken to control the rising infection. The bench said that the state was lacking in terms of testing, providing adequate medicine (specially Remdesivir), supply of oxygen and availability of beds in the hospitals, more particularly in intensive care units (ICU).

This came on the day when the Covid-19 count rose to a new peak with 6,021 cases and 55 deaths in 24 hours. By Monday evening, the total active cases in the state rose to 30,680.

Earlier on Sunday, Chief Justice Vikram Nath had taken a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) titled, "Uncontrolled Upsurge and Serious Management Issues in COVID Control”. The PIL was filed based on news reports on "harrowing tales, unfortunate and unimaginable difficulties, unmanageable conditions of the infrastructure, the shortfall and the deficit of not only testing, availability of beds, ICU, but also supply of oxygen and the basic medicines like Ramdesivir, etc."

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During the hearing, Advocate General Kamal Trivedi defended the state government and read out steps taken to control the situation. He said that "this is a fight between Corona and people at large. The government is doing the best it can but people should be responsible." He argued against the news reports annexed in the PIL and said that those reports were not entirely true, especially with regard to Remdesivir.

"This is not a Corona drug, it just reduces hospitalisation periods. It causes liver and kidney damage and therefore, we do not recommend its use at home. Doctors are indiscriminately prescribing it. This has led to hoarding of the drug. Out of total production of this drug, that is 1.75 lakh vials per day in the country, Gujarat gets the lion's share with 25,000 to 30,000."

Although the annexure didn't have news reports on the distribution of Remdesivir at BJP's office in Surat, the Advocate General defended the move saying the vials were legally procured and distributed free of charge.

"It was an attempt to do charity out of sheer enthusiasm. One school of thought says it should not have been done. But, it was not with an intention to create any malice, the idea was to see that people were helped. The question is how these injections come and where did it come from. That report is very much available for the court's consideration. They are legally obtained injections and were given free of charge. Perhaps, that could have been avoided. But, another way of looking at it is what is wrong in it."

Earlier, this week the opposition Congress had raised an objecion after BJP started distributing the vials from its office in Surat instead of handling those to needy hospitals and authorised agencies.

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Trivedi also said that compared to last year's condition, the mortality rate in the state is less than 1 per cent. He added that there is no shortage of oxygen and other facilities. He also said that there was no question of imposing a lockdown like last year as it had brought miseries on the poor and migrant workers.

Trivedi defended the state government's response to the rising infections by saying that "other states are far worse off than Gujarat". He pointed out that the number of cases in Delhi are much more and UP is facing a massive shortage of Remdesivir. "We feel that things are under control and there is no reason for people to go into fear psychosis," he said.

Chief justice Vikram Nath responded, "I am not concerned about what is happenning in other states. We are here for Gujarat. We are here to follow up what is happening in Gujarat. I know about Uttar Pradesh and I know about Delhi, Maharashtra and Bengaluru also." He added, "This is the third phase and it's so steep. I fail to understand why testing has got delayed. We have information that people have to wait for four to five days to get their Covid-19 result." The bench said that if "everything is in order", why are people lining up outside the hospitals to get admitted and why ambulances are piled up in front of hospitals.