On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court told the Delhi government that it came up with a solution to the “embargo” produced by its order to provide nursing homes to treat COVID-19 patients on their homes and first floors.
With such a government order, the court said that existing COVID-19 patients can be discharged and new ones are being released.
A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli said that if someone had started a nursing home at the time of the epidemic to meet the standards of the building, an action under the Delhi government’s April 30 order would have made no sense.
But, the bench said that if the nursing homes which were running before the epidemic, and perhaps broke the norms of the building, now asked the patients of COVID-19 to be treated on the ground and first floors for treatment was going, “This is not fair”.
“If they (nursing homes) discharge their patients, will you (Delhi government) take them in? Where will they (patients) go, especially when there are no avenues for people to avail treatment elsewhere” the court said.
It suggested that the order can be kept in abeyance for a few months, especially during the prevailing pandemic.
Afterwards, senior advocate Rahul Mehra and additional standing counsel Satyakam, appearing for the Delhi government, said they will seek instructions on the issue.
Senior advocate and amicus curiae Rajshekhar Rao and Mehra told the court that an order may have been issued as a lot of nursing homes are not in compliance with fire safety norms.
Mr Mehra also said that the order was actually only an advisory and those nursing homes having fire safety clearances can continue to treat patients as they were doing till now.
The court was hearing a plea moved by the Delhi Medical Association, several of whose members are running nursing homes in the national capital and are treating COVID-19 patients, challenging the Delhi government’s April 30 order.
The April 30 order said any nursing home above nine-metre height should treat COVID-19 patients only on the ground and first floors.
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