HIGH COURT DIRECTS AIIMS TO GIVE FREE TREATMENT TO POOR BLOOD CANCER PATIENT

High Court today directed AIIMS to provide all necessary treatment to the Blood-Cancer patient Satish without charge till the next date of hearing. While passing these directions, Justice I S Mehta observed that this petition is a mercy petition to the High Court and it is the duty of the High Court to help the patient.

Mr. Ashok Agarwal appearing for the petitioner argued that 30-year-old Satish has been undergoing Chemotherapy at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and his family has already spent around Rs.3 lakh on treatment, but they cannot afford expenses of further treatment. “The impugned inaction to provide free treatment to the patient is violative of his Fundamental & Human Rights to Life under Article 21, read with Articles 38, 39, 41 & 47 of the Constitution of India.”, submitted Mr. Agarwal.

The Delhi High Court had earlier issued notices to the Central and Delhi Governments and AIIMS in the petition filed by the patient’s brother through Advocate Ashok Agarwal. The petitioner had sought directions to the hospital to provide to his brother, a Blood-Cancer patient, free and continuous treatment.
In the petition, Anand Kumar Morya said that his brother Satish, a resident of Mathura who ran a photocopy-cum-lamination shop, was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Leukemia, a form of Blood-Cancer, in March, barely three months after his marriage.

Due to his condition, the shop had to be closed down and machines sold off to bear the cost of treatment, said the petition. Satish’s father, a Class IV railway employee with a monthly salary of Rs.12,000, was now the sole earning member in a family of six.

The patient’s father has exhausted all his savings on the treatment, and even his provident fund account is left with a meagre balance of Rs.24,550, said the petition.        

“They (the family) have been given an additional expenditure estimate of Rs.6 lakh recently, which they are unable to bear. The petition thus seeks continuation of treatment at AIIMS free of cost in order to save Satish’s life,” it said.

The petition stated that the family was not in a position to bear the expenditure and, under such circumstances, Satish’s Chemotherapy was likely to get interrupted and discontinuation of treatment would lead to an anomalous situation by reversing the gains of treatment already given. This will ultimately endanger the patient’s life.

Pointing out that Satish has been responding well to the treatment and his condition has improved, the petition said that the petitioner had, in representations on May 1 and 13 to the AIIMS Director, requested free continuation of treatment, but no response has been received so far.

The next date of hearing is July 9, 2015.

Ashok Agarwal, Advocate     
M: 9811101923  
10.06.2015