The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed Punjab to furnish a detailed account of the intensive care unit (ICU) facilities claimed to be functional in 22 districts, including the number of beds, ventilators, doctors, nurses, technicians and other paramedical staff specifically earmarked for the units. The Bench made it clear the exercise was aimed at ensuring that poor patients are not forced to seek treatment at private hospitals for want of requisite facilities in district hospitals.“The object of issuing the directions is to ensure that poor patients in different districts of the State of Punjab are not forced to go to private hospitals in the absence of requisite medical facilities in the district hospitals,” the Bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor observed.The Bench further expressed the “hope and trust” that Punjab would take the necessary measures to ensure that “an ICU-enabled hospital is functional in at least each of the 23 districts”. The directions were issued during the resumed hearing of a public interest litigation filed against the State of Punjab and other respondents after petitioner Bhisham Kinger questioned the adequacy of the information furnished by the State regarding ICU facilities. State’s affidavit found lacking in detailsThe court noted that Punjab had filed an affidavit on the previous occasion stating that ICU facilities were functional in 22 districts. In response, the petitioner pointed out that the report did not specify the actual capacity of the units or the personnel deployed exclusively for them.Recording the objection, the Bench noted that the status report did not disclose “the number of ICU beds, the number of doctors/medical officers, nurses, technicians and other para-medical staff posted specifically for the ICU”.The petitioner had also alleged that the affidavit was deficient because “the ventilators and other life-saving equipment available have also not been specified”.Fresh affidavit ordered; admissions over 2 months to be disclosedThe court noted that Senior Deputy Advocate-General Salil Sabhlok had handed over a chart showing that patients had been admitted in the 22 districts where ICUs were stated to be functional. However, the Bench required further details from the State. “We would like the State to file a further affidavit by the next date fixed, clearly specifying the details as have been referred to by the PIL petitioner in his reply,” the Bench added.The court specifically ordered that “the total number of beds, ventilators, medical staff etc., specifically earmarked for the ICU, shall be categorically stated”. It added that “the patients admitted in the last two months shall also be specified”.The case will now come up for further hearing on November 16.The Bench had initially questioned Punjab’s decision to outsource CT scan and MRI facilities in a civil hospital after asserting that the State was duty-bound under its sovereign function to provide basic healthcare facilities.The assertions and directions came as the court examined the functioning of Malerkotla Civil Hospital during the hearing on in the public interest litigation filed by Bhisham Kinger. Expressing dissatisfaction, the Bench had asserted: “This court fails to understand as to why a private laboratory is required to be engaged, when the State is duty bound under its sovereign function of providing basic health care facilities, which includes purchase of CT scan and MRI machines, which in present times are necessities of modern time hospital amenities to be available at district as well as sub-division level hospitals”.