The Allahabad High Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to explain the viability of continuing with restrictions imposed by it on out-patient department (OPD) services in hospitals and nursing homes to treat non-COVID-19 patients.
A Division Bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Yashwant Varma passed the direction on Monday on a PIL petition filed by the All India Peoples Front (Radical) through its national spokesperson S.R. Darapuri, a retired IPS officer.
The State had issued notifications on March 23 and May 31 under which government and private hospitals as well as nursing homes were restricted from opening the OPD for treating non-COVID-19 patients except in case of emergency.
The court directed Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal to seek instructions on the present state of affairs and about the “viability of continuing with the restrictions.”
The Bench also asked if the State government or the Chief Minister’s Office would like to revisit the guidelines contained in the two notifications. The court listed the matter for June 18.
