Lakshadweep : Kerala High Court Asks Expert Committee To Formulate Guidelines On Medical Evacuation In 10 Days

To allay the apprehensions of Lakshadweep residents regarding the new procedure for medical evacuation, the  Kerala High Court has directed the committee constituted by the Health Services Director, Lakshadweep, for recommending medical evacuation of patients from various islands, to formulate guidelines on the method and manner of its functioning.

A division bench comprising Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Kauser Edappagath directed that the guidelines be placed before the court within 10 days.

The court passed the interim order on a writ petition filed by P.M. Mohammed Saliah from Amini in Lakshadweep challenging the order of the Director of Health Services constituting a four-member committee for recommending special evacuation of patients to Kochi or Agati or Kavaratti from other islands. As per the earlier process for medical evacuation,  patients in critical condition used to be airlifted as soon as the medical officer of the respective islands made a request to the Health Services Director functioning in Kavaratti.

According to the new order, the 4-member committee will recommend  evacuation from Lakshadweep islands to Kochi/ /Agatti/Kavaratti. "The committee will scrutinise all the relevant documents submitted online by the medical officer in-charge in the respective islands along with the specialist concerned at the IGH and recommend the evacuation case by case," it stated.

The order of the Health Services Director made it clear that the committee would make a recommendation on a case-to-case basis after evaluation of all relevant documents uploaded online by the medical officer in charge of the respective islands along with a specialist at the Indira Gandhi Hospital, Kavaratti.

The petitioner contended that the order had put the petitioner and other inhabitants in great hardship since it would delay the processing of the evacuation request, endangering the lives of patients.

When the petition came up for hearing, S. Manu, counsel for the Lakshadweep Administration, submitted that the committee did not cause any delay in taking a decision on the request of the medical officer for medical evaluation. The committee members would talk to each other over phone and take a decision in five minutes once a request was made by the medical officer of the island concerned. The service of 94 doctors of modern medicine including specialists had been made available in the islands. It was above the national average in terms of the doctor-patient ratio. He also submitted that since the order had come into force, as many as 13 patients had been evacuated from various islands.

"We are of the considered view that if some guidelines are drawn by the Committee in regard to the manner in which a decision will be taken that would allay all the apprehensions of the inhabitants in the Lakshadweep Islands. It is appropriate that such guidelines be placed before this Court by next posting. Post after 10 days", the court ordered.

The petitioner was represented by Advocates TM Muhamed Hafees, Shiba S, Parvathy Vijayan.

Click here to read/download the order