Terming the second wave of Covid-19 as a national crisis, the Supreme Court has given permission to convert hostels, temples, churches as Covid-19 care centres. It also said the Centre should adopt a national immunization model as poor people will not be able to pay for vaccines.
A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud said,”There should be free flow of information, we should hear voices of citizens.” It also asked the centre, states and all DGPs not to take any action against anyone posting a shortage of oxygen, beds or doctors as spreading rumour and if any action is taken against such posts by citizens in distress, it will be treated as contempt of the court.
The apex court admitted that even frontline doctors and healthcare workers are not getting beds for treatment and the healthcare infrastructure inherited over the past 70 years is not sufficient and the condition is tragic. It said the healthcare sector has come to a breakpoint and retired doctors or officials could be re-employed in this crisis.
The top court also said that private vaccine manufacturers cannot be allowed to decide which state should get how much.
