Ensure no fleecing by pvt hosps at cost of distressed, govt told

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy made the observation on Monday while perusing the State’s report which dealt with various aspects, including the concern expressed by the bench on overcharging at private medical facilities.

However, on noting that the situation now appears to be under control, the bench said: “Considering the alarming level that the second surge had grown to, it required all-round work with a degree of cooperation between the Centre and the State and the Union Territory as was envisaged to tackle the situation.”

“Both the State and the Union Territory appear to have taken appropriate measures to deal with the problem though there may have been a state of unpreparedness at the initial stage,” the bench held while noting that even the Centre accepted the sometimes-unusual requests made by this Court to augment the supply of oxygen so that there were no oxygen-related deaths in the State.

Given the reports filed, which indicate the allocation of vaccine to the State and the Union Territory in June, the allocation of the cocktail of drugs necessary to treat COVID and the allocation of drugs to deal with Mucormycosis, the Centre appears to be on the right track, the bench held.

It also expressed hope that the efforts to expeditiously augment the supply of vaccines would be kept up so that the entire population can be vaccinated as quickly as possible.