Make mandatory for all hospitals to obtain plasma from recovered patients: PIL in Delhi HC

A Public Interest Litigation has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to Centre and Delhi government to make mandatory for all the hospitals to obtain plasma from the recovered patients, both who were admitted in hospitals as well as who were under home quarantine/isolation, by framing proper guidelines.

The petitioner Piyush Gupta, through Adv Kapil Goyal, also seeks direction to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and National Disaster Management Authority to constitute a statutory body to regulate the smooth availability of the plasma to various hospitals, nursing homes etc.

Petiton to be heard on Friday by Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan. It stated that, as we are aware that till today except plasma therapy, no other effective tool has been invented to cure patients suffering from COVID-19. But unfortunately despite the same being a major invention, our Government is not taking effective steps for its sufficient availability and for its proper implementation.

Petition prayed for court's direction to respondents to constitute a overseeing body which shall regulates the availability of the plasma and also to pass necessary orders for establishing a proper mechsm thereby making it mandatory for all the hospitals either operated under Union of India or Delhi Government or Municipal Corporation of Delhi or private testing labs to send data of all those people who were found positive of COVID-19 and further make it obligatory on the part of every recovered patient to donate plasma at first instance and the regulatory body shall display, publicly, the availability of plasma and made available the same to the seriously ill patients free of cost or at an reasonable price.

Petitioner claims that it came to the knowledge that now a black marketing of plasma has also started and a genuine person who needs plasma, fails to get the same.

( With inputs from ANI )