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A plea has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking directions to the GNCTD to formulate and implement a policy and procedure for the admission of Covid-19 patients to private hospitals.

The petition has been filed by Advocate Vivek Agarwal further seeking directions to the concerned authority to comply with the order dated 20.06.2020 issued by the Health and Family Welfare Department, GNCTD or formulate a fresh policy of price regulating the cost of admission and treatment of Covid-19 patients in private hospitals and further direct the private hospitals to publish the regulated rates online and in prominent places inside the said hospitals, and pass further directions for taking strict actions against the hospitals who do not comply the said price regulations.

The petitioner has further sought for a direction to establish a committee headed by a retired judge of the High Court of Delhi to keep a check on admissions of Covid-19 patients and implementation of admission policy and further direct the said committee to conduct regular audits to ensure compliance of the admissions policy and penalize defaulting private hospitals.

It has been submitted that because of the rampant and excessive hoarding committed by parties involved in the supply chain management, there has been a direct impact on price of the drug which is paid by lakhs of patients. The petitioner has thus prayed to create and implement a policy to establish a supply chain of the drug Remdesivir and drug Tocilizumab directly to hospitalsat price fixed by the Union Government and to establish a committee headed by a retired judge of the High Court of Delhi to keep a check on the production, supply and usage of the drug.

The plea has been listed for hearing on May 31, 2021 before the bench comprising Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh.