Delhi HC seeks RMLs stand on plea claiming lack of medical amenities

The Delhi High Court has sought the stand of Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital on a plea alleging non-availability of correct medical amenities.

The court docket requested the hospital’s medical superintendent to submit an affidavit on the grievance raised within the plea relating to the alleged non-availability of nucleic acid testing (NAT) to detect infections like HIV and of important medicines.

“Let the counsel make submissions on the following date of listening to on the particular grievance of the petitioner in respect of NAT testing and non-availability of important medicines,” stated a Bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora throughout a listening to on Friday. The court docket listed the case for the following listening to on December 17.

The petition by NGO Kutumb sought instructions to the Central authorities and the RML Hospital to take the mandatory measures to make sure the uninterrupted availability of important medicines, life-saving medicine, and protected blood transfusion amenities.

The petitioner claimed that, in keeping with media reviews, blood transfusions at RML Hospital are being performed with out the necessary NAT, an important security process designed to detect infections equivalent to HIV and Hepatitis B and C.

“The hospital’s semi-automatic NAT machine reportedly stopped functioning in November 2024, and since then, solely routine serology exams [which check for antibodies or antigens, rather than the actual virus genes] are being performed. This exposes 1000’s of unsuspecting sufferers, together with these requiring repeated transfusions equivalent to thalassemia sufferers, to a grave threat of contracting life-threatening illnesses,” the plea stated.

The petition stated the “non-availability” of important medicines and provides, and the “forcing poor sufferers” to buy them at exorbitant costs from outdoors, defeat the very objective of a authorities hospital and quantity to denial of entry to healthcare to economically weaker sections.