Assam: Debabrata Saikia files PIL against hospitals refusing treatment to non-COVID patients

Guwahati: Congress MLA and Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia has filed a case against hospitals for refusing to treat patients if they do not produce a COVID-19 negative report.

As per reports, the Gauhati High Court has fixed October 19 as the date of hearing. The Congress leader Debabrata Saikia stated in his petition that many hospitals in Assam had been turning critically ill patients away due to non-production of coronavirus (COVID-19) certificate.

The petition said, "such people also include accident-related critically injured cases, in which urgent medical care is vital and of paramount importance. Resultantly, many people succumbed to their injuries sustained during the accidents. Other vulnerable patients like pregnant women, cardiac patients, etc., are also not admitted in the hospital without the non-COVID medical certificate."

Mr. Debabrata Saikia said hospitals had been insisting on the certificate despite the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry's office communication on April 28 to all States and Union Territories that anyone needing any essential critical services, including dialysis, blood transfusion, chemotherapy and institutional deliveries, should not be denied such services.

It is to be mentioned that the Congress leader filed the Public Interest Litigation petition at a time when the Assam government said the surge in COVID-19 cases has put pressure on the State's healthcare facilities that are running out of beds while the gap between production and consumption of oxygen has been reducing fast.

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