On Thursday Bombay High Court said that doctors cannot be held liable for unavailability of drugs and short supply of medicines. In the last few months of the pandemic, we have come across numerous cases filed against doctors and hospitals. Various allegations have been made on doctors by the covid patience and their family members.
The division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Duttta and Justice Kulkarni while hearing a clutch of PlLs filed relating to Covid management in the state and asked Advocate General Ashutosh kumbhakoni to look into the issue. The doctors are alleged for not giving proper drugs or using the cheaper alternative drugs for covid patience and making money out of it. Replying to which Indian Medical Association stated that Tocilizumab and Dexamethasone have different uses. Patients who don’t respond to the anti-inflammatory action of Dexamethasone usually react to Tocilizumab. In a life-threatening situation, where Daxemathasine doesn’t help, only then Tocilizumab is prescribed. Latter it all depends upon how the patient’s body how it responds to the medication as it always differs from person to person. And it will be wrong to say that doctors are using it indiscriminately and making money out of it. Doctors are been often blamed by relatives for the death of covid patients, often go to the police station and complaint that the application protocols are not been followed by doctors which have led to their relative’s death.
Therefore, a Request was been made in court to issue proper guidelines to the police station that to deal in such matters and how to investigate such matters. On which bench stated that the patient’s treatment procedure is known best to doctors and should be left up to them. Considering the patient’s clinical condition, what drugs are required at a particular point in time is best known to medical experts only, as observed by the court. Court also stated that it will still consider cases that it feels are genuine and needs proper investigation by the investigating officer, but doctors can’t be harassed and be alleged for medical negligence. As in this critical time of the pandemic, the doctors and healthcare staff are “in the frontline and working tirelessly for the wellbeing of the society”.
-Report by Riddhi Dubey