Read Time: 08 minutes

Synopsis

The Bombay High Court, on Friday, said that the State Government cannot evade its responsibility for maintaining the healthcare system by shifting the burden onto private hospitals.

A division bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Chief Justice Devendra K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor was hearing a Suo Moto Public Interest Litigation registered by the high court with respect to the deaths occurring in the state run hospitals in Nanded and Shambhajinagar. 

"You cannot escape. You are the state. You cannot shift responsibility to a private hospital," the bench said.

The bench made this statement in response to the Advocate General Birendra Saraf's remark, in which he mentioned the burden on hospitals due to the influx of patients.

"Patients are brought to public hospitals in an extremely critical situation. There have been 11 to 20 deaths in a day in these hospitals before too. Public hospitals cannot ask people to go away. They try to accommodate everyone. There is a heavy inflow of patients from private and government hospitals. Private hospitals are not following norms in terms of patient referral. There is a burden", Saraf said.

Saraf also argued that there was no gross negligence on the part of the hospitals, as they had followed the protocols, and he added that every death is indeed unfortunate. In response, the bench stated,

"How to strengthen it? Everything is in place on paper. But if it is not there on the ground. It is about the general condition of healthcare" the bench said.

The court in its order also recorded that there was a reduction in state budgetary allocation in the healthcare sector. 

"According to FY 2021-2022 the budget allocated to the department with respect to healthcare is 5.09%. In 2022-23 it is 4.24% and in 2023-24 it is 4.01%. The decline is visible. Having heard the Amicus and AG and given our serious thought to this situation we are willing to state regarding the state healthcare system that issues have emerged which needs to be addressed by all concerned especially the state government," the bench said. 

The division bench further took note of the vacancies in the government hospitals and hospitals associated with colleges. 

"As against 325 sanctioned posts for junior doctors, 273 posts were filled in. As for senior posts, the report also mentions that as against 97 sanctioned posts only 49 are filled in. For hospitals associated with colleges, the senior and junior residents have responsibilities, and even one empty post cannot be accepted in any situation," the bench said.

The division bench then directed the Principal Secretary of the Public Health Department and Medical Education and Drugs to provide information regarding the sanctioned posts and the vacancies filled against those posts.

Furthermore, the bench also sought details about the medicines and medical supplies that the hospitals in Nanded and Shambhajinagar had demanded from the government over the past year, along with information about the supplies provided by the government in response to those demands.

The high court also pointed out that while the state government had established a central authority for procurement, there was no appointed CEO. Consequently, the bench ordered the state government to appoint a CEO within a two-week timeframe.

"Having regard to the nature of functions the authority is to perform and the functions assigned, we have no hesitation to observe that giving an additional charge of the CEO doesn’t meet requirements in terms of the scheme of the Act. Thus there appears to be a burden for want of a full fledged CEO which we expect shall be done in 2 weeks," the bench recorded. 

The high court will now hear the Suo Moto PIL on October 30.

Case title: Suo Moto PIL