All metro hospitals to get tips on emergency treatment

The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed the central government to circulate among all government hospitals in the metros its suggestions on the prompt treatment of patients in an emergency.

The central government, in consultation with the director general of health services, has come up with the suggestions which were presented before a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna.

The court asked for drafting of the suggests after taking note of a news report of a man who died due to alleged negligence in a hospital last year.

The government, in its affidavit, recommended that each state may establish a bed bureau control room which would cater to an area within a radius of about 50 km in each district in a metro.

‘All the secondary and tertiary care government hospitals coming in this area should send their daily bed vacancy position to this central control room, where this information should be compiled by staff, who should be present at all times,’ the government said in its affidavit.

The government also suggested that the control room should be well-equipped.

‘Each hospital in a defined area should send its bed vacancy to the central control room via email or fax at 10 a.m. and around 8 p.m. A dedicated phone line, fax number and mobile number should be allocated to this central control room, which can be contacted by the hospitals,’ it said.

The court said that this suggestion should be treated as a guideline and should be circulated among all hospitals in the metros so that patients in need of medical help in emergency situations were not turned away.

The government suggested that in case a bed was not vacant in a particular ward or speciality hospital in which the patient was needed to be treated, efforts should be made to create a vacant bed in wards or allied surgical specialities taking care of acute trauma patients.