The Delhi High Court Thursday asked the committee constituted to suggest effective steps to deal with Covid-19 outbreak in the capital to resolve issues “relating to duplication of data, which is resulting in loss of valuable time for private laboratories, better spent on collecting samples and giving timely reports”. As per the HC’s order, one prominent issue flagged by private laboratories is they are being made to upload patient registration details on multiple forums —RT-PCR App, Covid app, the ICMR portal, and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Portal linked to the office of Delhi Chief Minister. “All the issues highlighted must be addressed at the earliest,” said a bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad. “They have stated all this requires engaging several data entry operators so the information can be provided to multiple government agencies daily, thereby wasting valuable time and diverting their energies from the testing process. The suggestion made is that the process of furnishing data be simplified and a single point agency be designated for all the private laboratories to furnish the requisite information,” the order stated. Private laboratories pointed out the difficulties faced by them in their affidavits filed before the court, in pursuance to court notices issued to them in the petition filed by advocate Rakesh Malhotra. As per the Lieutenant Governor’s directions, the committee, comprising of experts including two members of the National Disaster Management Authority and AIIMS director Randeep Guleria, was formed on June 12 to advise the Delhi Disaster Management Authority on various aspects of Covid-19. The HC directed the Delhi government to place on record the committee’s decision and file another affidavit on or before June 20.
