India, July 30 -- New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed 51 private hospitals in Delhi that are mandated to provide free treatment to patients from the economically weaker sections (EWS) to suggest a mechanism for providing emergency medical care to EWS patients as part of a standard operating procedure (SOP) to be finalised by the court.

The court issued the directions in continuation of its 2018 ruling, reiterating that hospitals which received land at concessional rates must provide free treatment to EWS patients, to the extent of 10% at in-patient departments and 25% at out-patient departments. The court directed the formulation of an SOP in May, after the Delhi government reported that several hospitals, bound by the lan...