As Delhi witnessed a huge spike of coronavirus cases in the last few days, a plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to ensure that private COVID-19 hospitals do not charge patients exorbitantly for treatment. The petition was filed by social activist and advocate Amit Sahni who has sought direction to concerned authorities to modify its circular letter dated May 24 so as to ensure that the declared COVID-19 private hospitals do not charge patient exorbitantly. He said that the state being a welfare state has to ensure that private hospitals do not charge patients exorbitantly and also to ensure that those who require immediate medical attention/intensive care are not denied admission due to paucity of funds. Meanwhile, the Delhi government on Tuesday ordered over 20 private hospitals to increase the number of dedicated COVID-19 beds by 20%, taking the number from 1,441 to 3,456. An official order was issued by Vikram Dev Dutt, Principal Secretary, Health Department on Tuesday which directed the hospitals to admit COVID-19 patients as per "revised allocation of beds" and to "update on Delhi corona app immediately."

Source: dna June 10, 2020 03:00 UTC