Lucknow, Jul 27 The Allahabad High Court has summoned the additional chief secretary/principal secretary, UP Medical Health & Family Welfare, on August 6 to furnish details on the availability of ventilators at government hospitals after terming the state's affidavit in the matter inadequate.
A Lucknow bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla passed the order on July 16, which was uploaded on Monday, while hearing a public interest litigation filed by an NGO.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the state's response, the bench observed that it was "evasive" and lacked material particulars, and fixed August 6 for the next hearing.
The court noted that in its April 22 order, it had sought details on the actual demand for ventilators in government hospitals, the number of patients who could not be provided ventilator support in time, and the mechanism in place to address such situations.
However, despite nearly three months having elapsed, the state government had failed to furnish any concrete information, the bench observed, noting that the affidavit merely stated that data collection from various hospitals was still in progress, according to the order.
The court further said the state had not provided clear details regarding budgetary allocations for healthcare facilities, the condition of medical colleges established in recent years, or the extent to which they were meeting the healthcare needs of local residents.
Holding that the affidavit failed to address the queries raised earlier, the bench directed the personal appearance of the principal secretary to furnish factual responses.
The court also directed the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow and other major hospitals to assess ventilator demand and availability on the basis of data from the past two years and indicate the additional number of ventilators required to meet actual demand.
In its earlier order, the court had observed that expenditure on healthcare should be the state's highest priority as it is directly linked to citizens' right to life.
It had also sought responses from the Centre and the state government on issues relating to regulation of private hospitals, decentralisation of super-speciality healthcare facilities and the availability of specialist doctors.
