HC notice to Govt on PIL for better care of kidney patients

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought a reply from the Centre and the city government on a PIL alleging lack of medical facilities in government-run hospitals especially for kidney patients' dialysis.
    
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S Muralidhar issued notices to Centre and Delhi government and also directed MCD, as some city hospitals are being run by it, to file their replies within two weeks.
    
The court was hearing a PIL filed by one Salekh Chand Jain through his counsel Sugriv Dubey seeking direction to the authorities to ensure proper dialysis facilities.
    
The petition alleged kidney patients in some areas of the city were not able get proper treatment due to lack of medical equipments, including the machineries for dialysis, and the government had failed to take steps to provide adequate facilities.
    
He contended that in some hospitals the dialysis machines were lying unused and there is absence of any mechanism to improve the working condition of those machines, as a result the poor patients were forced to go to expensive private
hospitals.
    
The Bench fixed January 14, 2009 as the date for further hearing on the PIL.