PIL in Delhi HC seeks to ensure certified protective gear for frontline COVID-19 warriors

The petition said that the increasing daily incidents of health workers testing positive for coronavirus and moving to hospitals or quarantine centres for their treatment is making the situation even graver.

A public interest litigation (PIL) was moved in Delhi High Court on Monday seeking directions to the Centre and Delhi government to ensure the availability of adequate protective gear for frontline coronavirus warriors. It said that these safety gears should be duly approved and certified.

The PIL, moved by an NGO named Justice for All, appealed for securing the lives of thousands of frontline health care workers and professionals actively attending COVID-19 and non-COVID patients in Delhi, who it said themselves are getting infected by the virus.

The petitioner, through advocate Shikha Sharma Bagga, submitted that hospitals in the city have been a major source of infection for COVID-19 with various healthcare workers and professionals and even the patients visiting the hospitals testing positive, leading towards a grave situation of a collapse of the healthcare system which is already facing an extreme shortage of healthcare workers.

According to the lawyer of the NGO, the petition will be heard by the court on May 8.

The petitioner being aggrieved and concerned with the impugned failure of the respondents in resolving the subdued issue of escalating deficit of frontline healthcare workers/professionals at the time of pandemic when the entire globe is only dependent on them for their survival for combating the COVID-19, the petition said.

The petition said that the increasing daily incidents of health workers testing positive for coronavirus and moving to hospitals or quarantine centres for their treatment is making the situation even graver.

The plea sought immediate framing of SOPs or guidelines by the respondents for the compliance of the order passed by the Supreme Court to device a mechsm for the earliest certification of BIS/ISO to the manufacturers/vendors supplying the PPEs, duly approved and certified by the team of doctors including a senior and a junior, the actual users, on duty as frontline workers in accordance with the quality as per the guidelines.

( With inputs from ANI )