Telangana: How is that 37 doctors of government hospitals tested Covid positive, High Court wants to know

'When the State government claims that the doctors and medical staff working in all government hospitals are provided with PPE Kits, N-95 masks, gloves, goggles etc., then how is that 37 doctors working in various government hospitals of the State have fallen prey to Covid-19? Why so many doctors have tested positive, when they are provided with all protective medical gears', the Chief Justice Bench questioned the State.

The Division Bench headed by the Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy hearing a tag of seven public interest litigations filed by various petitioners on Thursday through video conference, seeking directions to the State government to provide protective gears to the doctors extending medical aid to Covid-19 patients, provide adequate security to doctors etc.

One of the petitioners retd. Professor PL Vishweshwar Rao's counsel, Chikkudu Prabhakar informed the Bench that the doctors and medical staff are not being provided with protective gear, as claimed by the State due to which they have tested positive. Moreover, the State has increased the number of Covid-19 tests, efforts are not made to trace out primary contacts, he alleged.

Advocate General Banda Shivananda Prasad sought an adjournment to furnish more details before the Court and the Bench directed Advocate General to inform the Court by June 7. For further hearing, the tag of seven public interest litigations was adjourned to June 8.