The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, to examine a Nagpur-based doctor’s plea to provide WHO-approved protection kits to doctors and paramedical staff battling the Covid-19 outbreak.
The bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah, however, desisted from issuing a notice after Mehta said the government would take a decision on the plea and there was no need for a formal notice.
“Please don’t issue any notice. We will take a call on it,” Mehta said.
The bench posted the next hearing to next week, by when the Centre is expected to come out with its response.
Dr Jerryl Banait’s plea, filed through advocate Astha Sharma, comes amid complaints from doctors that healthcare teams have been left without enough protection. This has been compounded by controversy over India’s export of PPE.
The petition urges the apex court to direct the Centre, states and Union Territories to “ensure availability of World Health Organisation-graded protective gear, including Hazmat (hazardous material) suits, personal protective equipment (PPE) including sterile medical/nitrile gloves, starch apparel, medical masks, goggles, face shield, respirators (ie, N95 respirator mask or triple-layer medical mask or equivalent), shoe covers, head covers and coveralls/gowns to all health workers including doctors, nurses, ward boys, other medical and paramedical professionals actively attending to and treating patients suffering from Covid-19 in India, not just in metro cities but also in tier-2 and tier-3 cities”.
It also seeks directives to the states to set up Covid-19 screening centres in the smaller towns and cities and to ensure effective implementation of the health ministry’s February 25 guidelines prescribing the procedures and practices for infection prevention and control.
The bench also heard a petition from an NGO, the Justice for Rights Foundation, that sought a directive to the authorities to prevent the black marketing of sanitisers and masks, whose prices have shot up amid the Covid-19 crisis.
The petition has also sought a directive to the government to provide free masks, sanitisers and essential commodities free of cost to all underprivileged sections of society.
Judges chip in
Thirty-two of the 33 Supreme Court judges, including the Chief Justice of India, have decided to contribute Rs 50,000 each to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund towards mitigating the Covid-19 crisis.
The other judge, Justice N.V. Ramana — second in seniority in the apex court — has contributed Rs 1 lakh to the PM’s Relief Fund. He had also contributed Rs 1 lakh each to the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Justice Ramana, who is from Andhra, will become the Chief Justice of India on April 24 next year and stay in the post till he retires on August 26, 2022.
