A PIL was filed by senior Congress leader Debabrata Saikia(petitioner); the said PIL stated that the refusal of the hospitals to provide treatment to non-COVID patients in the time of emergency is violative of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. In regards to the PIL, the High Court of Gauhati has issued a notice. The notice was issued by the division bench of Hon’ble Acting Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh and Hon’ble Justice Manish Choudhary.
The notice was issued on December 22, 2020.
The learned counsel for the petitioner Mr. S.B. Rahman, submitted that he has filed an additional affidavit giving instances where proper treatment has been denied to the non-COVID patients on the ground of pre-occupation with the COVID patients though these patients would also require earlier attention of the hospitals.
The Court then added:
“We would like to have response from the Health Department of the State.”
“Accordingly issue notice, returnable in 3 (three) weeks.”
Further,
Mr. R.K. D. Choudhury, learned Asstt. SGI accepted notice on behalf of the respondent no.1 and Ms. S. Sarma, learned Standing Counsel, Health Department accepted the notice on behalf of the respondent nos.2 & 3.
