Shimla, Nov 13
With rising of Covid cases in the state, the high court of HimachalPradesh on Friday asked the state government to increase the number of ventilators , beds and Oxymeter in all Covid hospitals and centres.Â
Division Bench comprising the Chief Justice L.Narayana Swamy and Justice Anoop Chitkara passed these orders on a petition taken up suo moto by the Court as Public Interest Litigation on a news article published a few days ago which said that the Covid ward in IGMC hospital in Shimla has been packed to capacity.
During the hearing on Friday, the advocate general told the court that there are currently around 2,400 vacant beds for Covid patients in dedicated covid care centres in the state. There are nearly 2,600 isolation beds, including ICU beds, in these centres, the AG said.
After going through the submissions filed by the state, the court
observed that sufficient ventilators are not available in the Covid hospitals. Sirmaur and Bilaspur districts only have one and four ventilators respectively, the court said. The court asked the state to consider the suggestions made by the amicus curiae.
The amicus curiae in the case said that short-term economic gains cannot be allowed to endanger long-term public health and welfare, and suggested regulating the entry of tourists and outsiders into the state.Â
He also suggested encouraging e-commerce, imposing
time-specific restrictions on economic activities, reintroducing the odd-even (valley-mountain side) scheme for opening of shops in market places, giving cash transfers to daily-wage earners and providing incentives such as soft loans to people dependent on tourism.
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