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2026 Supreme(Online)(Del) 16655
IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Prathiba M. Singh, Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, JJ
COURT ON ITS OWN MOTION – Appellant
Versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS – Respondent
W.P.(C) 3903/2017 | W.P.(C) 8548/2017
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Mr. Kumar Utkarsh
For the Respondents: Mr. Vishwajeet Singh Bhati, Ms. Arunima Dwivedi, Ms. Himanshi Singh, Ms. Monalisha Pradhan, Mr. Amit Tiwari, Ms. Ayushi Srivastava, Mr. Arpan Narwal, Mr. Kushagra Malik, Mr. V.S.R. Krishna, Mr. Ravinder Agarwal, Mr. Manish Kumar Singh, Mr. Vasu Agarwal, Mrs. Avnish Ahlawat, Mr. Nitesh Kumar Singh, Ms. Aliza Alam, Mr. Mohnish Sehrawat, Mr. Rakesh Malhotra, Mr. Bharat Malhotra, Ms. Gayatri Bhatia
The Court emphasized the necessity of functional healthcare infrastructure, directing the GNCTD to resolve deficiencies in the e-Hospital Management Information System, operationalize a clear emergency helpline, and ensure that expensive medical equipment is utilized through proper manpower recruitment or reallocation.
Headnote:(A) Healthcare Administration - Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) - Implementation of NextGen e-Hospital system - Court directs audit and removal of deficiencies such as lack of staff and IT infrastructure to ensure real-time ICU bed availability. (Para 3-15)
(B) Emergency Services - Toll-free Helpline - Integration of CATS - Requirement for clear communication of contact numbers and designation of a Referral Coordinator to streamline patient transfers. (Para 16-23)
(C) Public Resource Management - Medical Equipment - Unused equipment in government hospitals - Failure to utilize expensive diagnostic equipment due to lack of technical manpower is unacceptable; Court orders joint review for reallocation or recruitment. (Para 24-33)
Issues: Whether the GNCTD has adequately implemented the e-Hospital Management Information System and utilized available medical equipment to ensure efficient healthcare delivery.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. closure of specific patient treatment issue. (Para 1 , 2) |
| 2. audit and rectification of hospital management information system (hmis) and icu bed tracking. (Para 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15) |
| 3. operationalization of a centralized emergency helpline and referral coordination system. (Para 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23) |
| 4. ensuring utilization of medical equipment through manpower recruitment and reallocation. (Para 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34) |
$~1 & 2 (SDB)
# CNR No. DLHC012320462017
# CNR No. DLHC014464172017
Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)
1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.
2. Further to the last order dated 3rd July, 2026, the Court has been informed that the patient– Mrs. Kamar Jahan has been provided an ICU bed at the LNJP Hospital and she is receiving treatment from the said hospital. In view thereof, the issue insofar as Mrs. Kamar Jahan is concerned, stands closed.
Audit of 38 GNCTD hospitals
3. On the last date of hearing, the Court, while observing certain inconsistencies in use of the NextGen e-Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) across hospitals in Delhi, had issued directions to the NIC to conduct a surprise inspection/audit across 38 hospitals in Delhi.
4. Pursuant to the said directions, a detailed report has been placed on record by Ms. Arti Garg, Scientist-D, Joint Director (IT), MeitY and NIC, Government of India.
5. Ms. Arti Garg and her team are also present in Court today.
6. In terms of the orders passed by this Court on 3rd July, 2026, the NIC constituted two teams and these teams visited the 38 hospitals in Delhi between 13th to 24th July, 2026.
7. The required logistical arrangements were provided by the GNCTD as per the report. The three issues which were to be addressed during the Audit of the 38 hospitals are as under:
a) Whether the number of available ICU beds in the hospitals are properly reflected and updated on the website or not;
b) Whether the phone calls which are being received in emergency situations seeking assistance for ICU beds are being properly attended to or not;
c) Whether the NextGen e-Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) is being uniformly and consistently implemented in all the 38 hospitals or not.
8. Thus, the audit with respect to implementation of the NextGen e- Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) and ICU Beds Saarthi in 38 hospitals of GNCTD was undertaken through a surprise inspection. An audit report dated 31st July, 2026 has been submitted., The inspecting team from the NIC is stated to have prepared a questionnaire to make the audit easily understandable. On the three aspects stated above, the audit report states as under:
“Question 1: Whether the number of available ICU beds in the hospitals are properly reflected and updated on the website or not.
The number of vacant beds displayed in the State Health Data Management Portal and the actual number of vacant beds in the ICUs were matching in most of the ICUs. However, in few cases, there was slight difference between the number displayed in the Portal and the actual number of vacant beds in the ICUs. The staff in the ICUs informed that this difference is due to admissions/transfers that happened after the status is updated in the website.
Delhi ICU Beds Saarthi Mobile App (which was available to the citizen during the last court of hearing) is displaying the ICU Beds availability status from the Delhi State Health Data Management System (https://cfwcst.delhi.gov.in/healthdashboard/icu). The status of ICU Beds availability is manually updated by the concerned hospitals on this website (on an avg. 3 times a day).
Once all the hospitals start using the IPD module (Admission/Transfer/Discharge) of NextGen eHospital application, the status of ICU bed availability would be available real-time to the citizens through a new Mobile App (which has been developed and is undergoing security audit)
Question 2: Wheth
