The Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the state to conduct tests at Hyderabad’s Gandhi Hospital, which is the nodal centre for treatment of COVID-19 patients.
According to a Deccan Chronicle report, a division bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chouhan and Justice B Vijayasen Reddy was passing a common order on five Public Interest Litigations (PILs) on COVID-19.
As of now, Gandhi hospital is only admitting patients, after they furnish a COVID-19 positive test report. And the rest of the patients are being turned away to get the test report first. Telangana High Court has questioned the same and asked how the hospital can turn away patients for tests to the other labs which are already inundated with samples.
There were also concerns raised on lack of information being provided to the public by the state government.
The court has also directed the Telangana Medical and Health department to publicise information related to beds, ventilators and different categories of hospitals, including government and private, which are designated for COVID-19 treatment.
The department was also directed to establish a web link providing information to the public regarding where they can file complaints against private hospitals for overcharging patients, as per media reports.
The high court also suggested to the government to regulate the private hospitals with the powers bestowed to it by the Central government under the Clinical Establishments Act, 2010.
The state was told to prescribe the rates for different types of procedures and services at private hospitals, and to fix a cap on charges for all types of tests at private diagnostic centres.
A detailed report needs to be submitted to the Telangana High Court by the state government by July 27 on the measures taken.