Coronavirus patients are being treated “worse than animals”, the Supreme Court said today as it pulled up Delhi amid spurt of virus cases in the national capital.”COVID-19 patients are treated worse than animals. In one case, a body was found in the garbage. Patients are dying and nobody is there to even attend to them,” the court said this afternoon as it asked the Arvind Kejriwal government to explain the fall in testing in the city.
Delhi has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in India after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The national capital has logged 34,687 patients so far and 1,085 deaths, according to the Union Health Ministry. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has repeatedly said that the city is prepared to tackle the pandemic amid a spurt in the number of patients, expected to rise up to 5.5 lakh by July.
Slamming the AAP government over its handling of the outbreak and not following center’s guidelines, the top court said: “The situation in Delhi is horrendous, horrific and pathetic. the very sorry state of affairs in its hospitals that aren’t giving due care and concern to the bodies. Patients’ families aren’t even informed about deaths. Families haven’t been able to attend the last rites too in some cases.”
“Patients are running from pillar to post to get admitted while large numbers of beds are vacant. According to some reports, a government hospital in Delhi had bodies in the lobby and waiting area. Inside the ward, most beds were unoccupied,” it added.
