India, July 8 -- The Delhi High Court has ordered surprise audits of all 38 Delhi government hospitals where the NextGen e-Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) has been implemented, after a patient was allegedly denied an ICU bed despite the online portal showing availability. A division bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora passed the directions while hearing matters related to healthcare infrastructure and public health services in the national capital. The order followed the case of a 70-year-old woman suffering from breathing difficulties who was allegedly refused admission at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital. According to submissions made before the court, the hospital's online portal showed two ICU beds as available when the patient's family arrived. They also claimed repeated calls to hospital helpline numbers failed to provide any useful information, with one call reportedly being answered by a security guard. Also Read - Balcony of luxury society flat collapses in Gurugram; residents demand 'structural audit' Describing the incident as "unfortunate", the bench observed that it raised serious concerns about the functioning of the ICU bed management system and the accuracy of real-time information displayed on the portal. The court directed the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to conduct surprise inspections of all 38 hospitals by July 31. The audit will examine whether ICU bed availability is being updated accurately, whether emergency helpline calls are being attended to properly, and whether HMIS has been implemented uniformly across hospitals. The bench also asked the Delhi government to consider setting up a toll-free helpline with 10 to 20 dedicated lines for ICU bed enquiries and emergency assistance. It further sought details on whether a nodal officer is responsible for ensuring patients referred between hospitals are admitted. The matter is scheduled for further hearing on August 7.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.