HC orders inspection of night shelter near AIIMS after 22 test +ve for Covid

New Delhi: Alarmed over 22 Covid-positive cases being found in a night shelter run by Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) just outside AIIMS, Delhi high court on Friday ordered an immediate inspection of the facility.

The court said the report of the inspection must be placed before the chief secretary, who will then take corrective measures on the manner in which the night shelter at AIIMS is being managed by DUSIB.

The court also demanded an explanation why the 22 patients were sent to far off hospitals for treatment instead of AIIMS where they were receiving non-Covid treatment.

“Since, the 22 people — who were found positive on Covid testing – were all occupying the night shelter which falls within the AIIMS premises, we are at loss to understand as to why they were not taken to the AIIMS Covid facility, and why they have been shifted to far off hospitals,” a bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar observed asking AAP government, DUSIB and AIIMS to answer by May 27.

The directions came after DUSIB, in a status report, disclosed that the patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 were shifted to Lok Nayak Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, both run by Delhi government.

The court also allowed a volunteer involved in helping the inmates of the night shelter, Rachna Malik, to conduct a local inspection and make video of the entire operation without any delay. Malik, who has been regularly visiting the night shelter at AIIMS, had informed the court that there is no potable drinking water facility and she has been purchasing drinking water for the inmates. However, DUSIB contested the claims and said enough facilities are being provided for the inmates of the shelter.

Malik had also alleged that the toilet facility at the night shelter is inadequate and highly filthy. Though, the toilets are cleaned twice a day, due to lack of water, they get soiled very fast, and there is also choking of the sewer line, she had told court which was hearing a PIL on the plight of around a 100 outstation patients and their attendants living in the night shelter at AIIMS.