Delhi news: Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Wednesday (January 3) said the city government has sought an explanation from three state-run hospitals following allegations that a man succumbed after being denied treatment, ruing that he could have saved had the 'Dilli Ke Farishte' scheme been functional.
A 47-year-old man died of injuries he suffered after jumping out of a moving police van early on Wednesday, a senior officer said.
Pramod was arrested after a 21-year-old woman alleged that he had molested her in an inebriated state. He was taken to four government hospitals by the police personnel due to the unavailability of beds or equipment at the facilities, he added.
Reacting to the incident, Bharadwaj said, "It has been brought to my notice by a media query that a victim of a road accident was allegedly refused admission by three Delhi government hospitals namely GTB Hospital, JPC Hospital and Lok Nayak (LNJP) Hospital and one central government hospital, namely RML Hospital."
"The patient was not provided timely emergency medical treatment and later he succumbed to his injuries. An explanation has been sought from the three Delhi government hospitals concerned," he said.
The minister said that if the 'Farishte Dilli Ke' scheme had been fully functional, the man could have been taken to a nearby private hospital having the requisite medical services and there would have been fair chances of him surviving.
Bharadwaj had earlier recommended action against the Delhi health secretary and the former Directorate General of Health Services for allegedly stopping funds for the scheme.
"This issue has been raised by me several times that due to non-payment of bills of private hospitals amounting to crores of rupees, these are now reluctant to admit road accident victims under the Farishte Dilli Ke scheme, wherein they are mandated to provide cashless treatment," he said.
Bharadwaj said information about the stoppage of funds for the scheme has been disseminated to the general public through the media and word of mouth. As a result, first responders such as Delhi Police and CATS (Centralised Accident and Trauma Services) personnel and the Good Samaritans are taking patients to far-flung government hospitals instead of the nearest private facility, having the requisite equipment.
"Consequently, the patients are being denied emergent medical treatment during the 'golden hour' and lives that could have been saved are being lost," the minister said.
He added that 11,587 people benefitted from the scheme between 2020-21 and 2021-22 but the number declined to 5,910 between 2022-23 and 2023-24.
"On analysis of the data, it is evident that there has been a sharp decline of almost 50 per cent in the number of beneficiaries during the last two years (post-Covid) against the previous two years (during the pandemic with complete and partial lockdowns)," he noted.
According to the police, Pramod fell on the road from the police van and was immediately taken to JPC Hospital from where he was referred.
"The injured was then taken to GTB Hospital by an ambulance but he could not be admitted there because of the unavailability of CT scan machinery. He was referred to LNJP Hospital where he could not be admitted due to the unavailability of beds in the ICU ventilator," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Joy Tirkey said.
"The injured was later rushed to RML Hospital but the authorities denied admission to him. He was again brought back to JPC Hospital, where the injured was declared dead at 5:45 am," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
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