ITANAGAR, 26 Nov: The Itanagar permanent bench of the Gauhati High Court has directed the inspection team of the Arunachal Pradesh government to inspect the state’s health institutions without basic facilities within two months and submit a report.
Hearing a public interest litigation (No 12/2019) filed by Duyu Anga of Itanagar against the state government and others, which was linked to 21 other PILs relating to lack of amenities and services in various health units and hospitals in the state, the HC in its order on 22 November said that the inspection team “should chalk out their travel plans and share their itinerary with the petitioner through her learned counsel, so that she can also visit the places when the inspecting team would be going.”
The court further said that, “in the event the petitioner visits the sites, she will give her independent report to the court and the inspection team of the state will give their own independent report.”
Taking into consideration the large area which the team would have to cover, the court offered two months’ time in which the health institutions involved in these cases should be inspected.
“In this regard, the learned counsel for the petitioner has provided to the court a list of 22 health institutions. A copy of the said list has been provided to the learned standing counsel for the health department. The learned standing counsel shall communicate the said list to the health department,” the HC said in its order.
Awaiting the inspection report to be filed, the court has listed the matter for hearing in the last week of February, 2023.
Earlier, on 28 April, 2022, the HC, while hearing the grievances of petitioners regarding lack of amenities and services in health establishments, submitted through counsel S Mow, had asked the health department to suggest the names of its officials for inspecting the health institutions in the state, and to submit their report before the court.
In pursuance of the HC’s 28 April order, the state’s health department has constituted a team of officials for inspecting various health institutions “which are the subject matter of this bunch of cases.”
The inspection team comprises Joint DHS (E) Dr D Wange, DDHS (P&D) Dr S Ronya, DDHS (CMS-Supply) Dr Nabam Takaing, State Epidemiologist Dr L Jampa, and the DMOs of the districts concerned.
