Coming down closely on the Swaroop Rani Nehru (SRN) Hospital in Prayagraj for its “pathetic condition”, the Allahabad excessive court docket mentioned that it will be higher to name it a “mortuary” as a substitute of a hospital.
The federal government medical setup is underneath an excellent menace by non-public medical mafia of town, the excessive court docket mentioned. (HT File)
“Prayagraj is under the grip of medical mafia. Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital attached to Motilal Nehru Medical College is in a pathetic condition. The poor and helpless patients are being dragged by touts planted by the medical mafia to private medical setups, and are not being treated in the hospitals attached to the medical college,” the court docket mentioned.
“The government medical setup is under a great threat by the private medical mafia of the city,” the court docket added.
The excessive court docket took critical word of the report submitted by the 2 amici curiae, who inspected SRN Hospital and submitted their report highlighting insufficient services and non-availability of docs within the outpatient division (OPD).
Listening to a PIL, justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal on Could 23 issued a slew of instructions to enhance the situation of SRN Hospital, directing the principal secretary, medical well being, to apprise the state authorities of this order and place the identical earlier than the chief secretary and, if wanted, earlier than the chief minister for his due consideration.
“Prayagraj just witnessed Mahakumbh in the months of January-February, 2025. Swaroop Rani Hospital is just one km away from the mela area. According to a state estimate, around 66.30 crore pilgrims took holy dip at Sangam. The medical infrastructure of the city is in a shambles. It was by the grace of God that no untoward incident happened, otherwise there was no medical facility available for treatment of the patients,” the court docket mentioned.
“Prima facie, this court finds that the nexus between private medical mafia, medical officers and staff of the Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital has practically crippled the infrastructure and working condition,” the court docket famous.
“The state and district administration are totally failing in providing basic medical facilities to the residents of Prayagraj who have just witnessed the successful Mahakumbh-2025 in the city. The earlier affidavit filed by the principal secretary, medical health, demonstrates that cities like Lucknow, Kanpur and Gorakhpur have hospitals with a capacity of more than 2,000 beds, but Prayagraj has a capacity of only 1,750 beds despite the fact that the biggest religious fair on earth was held here in January-February, 2025,” the court docket added.
The court docket additionally slammed public representatives hailing from Prayagraj, saying, “The representatives of people in the parliament and state legislature from Prayagraj are also not taking any keen interest in the welfare and well-being of citizens. There are ministers in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet from Prayagraj, but they have not paid any attention to the deteriorating condition of the hospital attached to the medical college.”
Whereas issuing a slew of instructions to enhance the situation of SRN hospital, the excessive court docket additionally directed the district Justice of the Peace, who was current within the court docket, to represent a group of officers to observe and preserve a tab on professors, assistant professors, affiliate professors, readers, and lecturers of the medical school indulging in non-public observe.
Directing that the PIL be put up for the following listening to on Could 29, the court docket additionally requested the DM to make sure that docs attend the OPD commonly from 8am to 2pm.