The Supreme Court (SC) of India on Monday sought a status report from the Assam government on the steps taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and also the steps the government is planning to take in case the COVID-19 situation worsens.
The top court has directed the Assam government to file the report within two days.
While hearing a suo moto petition on the management of medical care given to COVID-19 patients and the manner of treating bodies, the SC observed that situation is likely to grow grim in the coming months and accordingly sought a status report from the State of Assam as well as from Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhusan said, “We are seeing a huge spike in the current month. We want a latest status report from all states. Worse things may happen in December if states aren’t well prepared.”
Based on reports of the shortage of ICU beds and oxygen in hospitals which even led to several deaths and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s statement before the press that Assam hospitals are running short of ICU beds and oxygen, advocates from Guwahati Kaushik Choudhury and Palash Talukdar, filed an intervention application in the ongoing suo moto writ petition of the Supreme Court highlighting the problems.
The applicants were represented by Supreme Court Advocate Pawanshree Agrawal.
The application also highlighted the unhygienic conditions in various COVID care centres and the exorbitant fees the private hospitals are charging in treating the COVID-19 patients and the Assam government’s failure to fix the hospital fees to date.
The next date of hearing is fixed for November 27.