Students from National Law Universities across the country have sent a letter to the Chief Justice of India, Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, listing out solutions to contain the pandemic and the current health crisis. The letter, that is signed by 25 students, lists out a seven-point solution to the current issue.
India on Thursday added 3.79 lakh new COVID-19 cases. At the same time, various states are reporting a shortage of emergency medicine, oxygen and hospital beds. The students begin their letter by stating that life-saving drugs are rampantly sold on the black market. These drugs, if confiscated, according to them are wasted. "The confiscated critical medicines, injections (including Remdesivir and Tocilizumab) and oxygen cylinders, in consultation with the CMO, could be appropriated for the needy in these critical circumstances," reads the letter. They also urge appropriate guidelines for the manufacturers of these medicines and equipment to directly provide the stock to district collectors. "The same can be re-allocated in consultation with the CMO to the hospitals as per their requirement," it says.
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Another suggestion that the law students have is to fix a ceiling a price for essential drugs and oxygen cylinders. They also suggest setting up a flying squad in every district to check any malpractice.
To solve the issue of hospital bed unavailability, they say, that there have to be "standard and uniform guidelines for admission into hospitals across the country, which must take into account the condition of the patient seeking admission." They also seek a prohibition of refusal of admission for the want of a positive RT-PCR report. Their other demands include increment in the number of tests, upgradation of testing infrastructure and allotment of more COVID care centres along with roping in necessary aid from defense and paramilitary infrastructure, engagement and training of staff from the medical fraternity, paramedics and medical students for speeding up of tests and timely issuance of test results.