Uttarakhand high court on Wednesday directed the state government to form monitoring committees in all 13 districts of the state to check the condition of treatment facilities for Covid-19 patients in the hospitals, quarantine centres and Covid care centres.
The monitoring committee will apprise the court about the situation every week. The HC has also decided to hear the matter related to the Covid situation in the state and its handling, every Wednesday.
The HC gave these directions while responding to a bunch of PILs filed by Sachdanand Dabral, Dushyant Mainali and Rajendra Arya related to various issues regarding the fight against Covid-19 pandemic in the state
The HC gave these directions while responding to the issue raised by advocate Shiv Bhatt.
The counsel of Sachdanand Dabral, Shiv Bhatt, said in the last hearing on September 18, the court had sought suggestions on how the fight against Covid-19 can be made effective in the state and how fatalities can be reduced.
“On Wednesday, I made eight suggestions including the need to form district level monitoring committees. Following the submission of my suggestions, the HC directed the state government to appoint monitoring committees in all the districts of the state. The committee members will visit the hospitals, Covid care centres, quarantine centres and interact with people concerned to understand the situation with regard to the handling of the epidemic at the district level,” Bhatt said.
Each district monitoring committees will comprise district magistrate or sub-divisional magistrate, secretary of the district legal services authority and president of the district bar association or a nominee appointed by him, said Bhatt.
In its September 18 order, the HC had said, “In view of the seriousness of the issue involved and the demand for a regular intervention, and in order to minimize the fatalities, we are of the considered view that this matter be taken up on a weekly basis in order to help the public at large. Hence this matter will be taken up for consideration on every Wednesday. In case there is a holiday on any Wednesday, the matter will be taken up on the next working day.”
Earlier on August 6, HC had directed the state government to apprise it whether the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines for Covid-19 treatment were being followed in the state hospitals.
In June this year, while expressing concern over the lack of basic facilities in quarantine centres in rural areas of four districts with a high prevalence of Covid, HC had directed the state government to provide funds to village heads (gram pradhans) so that the condition of these quarantine centres can be improved.
Uttarakhand has so far reported over 42,000 Covid-19 positive cases and deaths of 512 Covid-19 positive persons. Dehradun district has reported the maximum 11,362 cases and the overall positivity rate in the state has crossed 7%.