Delhi High Court summons govt official over delay in filing hosp audit report

Following the failure of the AAP government to indicate the timeframe to file an audit report of all its hospitals, the Delhi High Court has directed the Principal Secretary (Health) to appear before it on the next date of hearing.

A bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice A K Chawla noted that the order of the court dated September 22 had highlighted glaring inadequacies in the healthcare sector which include eight public hospitals maintained by the Delhi government.

The court had then ordered a third party audit of all the Delhi government hospitals, including two super speciality hospitals, namely Janakpuri Super Speciality and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospitals.

The bench took a serious view of the fact that the earlier order was not complied.

“This inadequacy includes gross under utilisation of the bed capacity to the extent of 10-15 per cent of the infrastructure provided, woeful staff strength at any given point of time, both of medical and non-medical staff, and other services,” the bench said.

It said that neither the audit report has been submitted nor the other actions have been complied with even though there is some progress. The court also noted that the Delhi government’s counsel was unable to mention the timeline within which the report would be prepared and the action taken.

“In light of the inability of the Government to indicate the timeframe, Principal Secretary (Health), Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi is directed to be present in court on February 28,” the court said.