Plea Filed In SC To Nationalise All Private Healthcare Facilities In India Until COVID-19 Crisis Is Dealt With

A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking nationalisation all healthcare facilities in the country until the coronavirus outbreak is contained. The petition requested the SC to issue orders to the centre, state, and Union Territory (UT) government in this regard.

With the claim that India lacked sufficient public healthcare infrastructure to fight the outbreak, it asked the SC to direct all healthcare facilities, institutes, companies and related entities to provide free of cost tests and treatment for COVID-19.

"India does not have sufficient public health care infrastructure to combat a pandemic like COVID-19 and as a last resort India needs to take help of private health care sector," the plea filed by Delhi-bases lawyer Amid Dwivedi said.

Dwivedi also claimed that this was being done in many countries across the globe where all healthcare infrastructure had been nationalised until COVID-19 crisis ends.

The plea has been filed a day after the apex court directed all private laboratories in the country to make coronavirus testing free of cost. The labs that have been charging Rs 4,500 for the screening and confirmation tests needed to be philanthropic at the time of a national crisis, the SC had stated.

The petition also said the condition of country’s healthcare sector had been poor due to low budgetary allowances while also mentioning that the private sector had grown big time in India. It also noted in India’s annual budget for the year 2020-21, only 1.6 per cent of it which was Rs 67,489 crore was allocated for healthcare.