Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan on Tuesday said that the news of two pregnant women being denied treatment and the death of their unborn babies was “very disturbing”.

A Ranchi-based photojournalist whose pregnant wife needed urgent medical help rushed from one government healthcare facility to another before the woman delivered a dead baby on Sunday, and on April 20 the child of a resident of Hindpiri in the state capital died half an hour after birth on April 20 after police did not allow her husband to take her to a hospital because the Hindpiri locality is sealed off as a Covid-19 containment zone.

The Chief Justice’s observation came when he and Justice S.N.Prasad were hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on the novel coronavirus pandemic in the state and ordered advocate-general Rajiv Ranjan to inquire into the incidents.

The judges said that such incidents should not be repeated and treatment ought to be given to all.

The bench in its oral observations said that denial of medical assistance to pregnant women was very shocking. The news was published in all local dailies and was of a serious and grave nature, the judges observed.

The advocate-general informed the court that the government was aware of the matter and an inquiry had been initiated into the incident on Sunday. The government will ensure that such incidents are not repeated and no person should be denied treatment in any private or government hospital in the state, he said.

The advocate-general also informed the bench that new guidelines have been issued by the Union home ministry which direct that all private hospitals that had closed its outpatient departments (OPDs) due to the corornavirus scare would have to resume working with effect from Tuesday.

Query on tests

The high court while hearing the PIL through video conferencing also asked about the number of tests for Covid-19 conducted by the government so far. There was no concrete figure on the number of tests done and their results, the judges remarked, and the speed of conducting tests was also not fast which does not give the right figures.

The court ordered the government to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.

Advocate-general Rajiv Ranjan informed the court that the state has geared up to open testing centres in all districts and tenders have already been prepared to be floated. The testing laboratory at RIMS in Ranchi was shut down after a technician tested positive for the novel coronavirus and the RIMS lab has been sanitised and would be operational soon, he said.

The government was preparing for about 7 lakh migrant labourers and students who were expected to return in the next couple of days, the attorney-general added.

Those returning would screened and quarantined to ensure that they are not infected, he added.