HC: Specify policy on priority to Covid heroes

Chandigarh, May 3

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the Union of India and the State of Punjab to specify whether policy/instructions were in place for providing priority treatment to Covid–19 warriors. For the purpose, Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri set a week’s deadline.

Got infected in lab

• The petitioner, Chanchal Singh, said he acquired kidney disease when he was posted in a lab after the epidemic’s onset
• Claiming to be a Covid warrior, he said he ought to have been given priority over other patients

The direction came on a petition filed against the Union of India and other respondents by Chanchal Singh through counsel Salil Dev Singh Bali. Appearing before the Bench through videoconferencing, Bali submitted the petitioner was a Covid warrior. He acquired kidney disease when he was posted in a laboratory after the epidemic’s onset. Although the petitioner was enrolled in kidney transplant patients’ list by the PGI, it was not in consonance with the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules, 2014, he contended. The counsel further submitted that the petitioner, being a Covid–19 warrior, ought to have been given priority over other patients.

Issuing notice of motion, Justice Puri asserted: “The counsel for respondent — Union of India as well as Pankaj Gupta, Additional Advocate-General, Punjab, shall seek specific instructions as to whether there is any policy for providing any priority treatment to the Covid-19 warrior.” — TNS