Kareena Eugene
On Wednesday, 5th May 2021, the Delhi High Court asserted that the foreign aid in terms of medical equipment is meant for the benefit of the population and not meant to be kept in boxes at some institution to become “junk”.
A Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli remarked, “When the government has received it as medical aid, it is meant to help the people. It is not meant to remain in boxes somewhere and become junk”.
The observation came after Amicus Curiae and Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao had expressed his concerns on the way the medical equipment was being distributed by the Central and the Delhi Government.
Rajshekhar said that Lady Hardinge Hospital had received around 260 oxygen concentrators when it did not even require as much.
The Bench said that the concern expressed “deserves consideration” and directed the Centre to verify the position with regard to distribution of foreign aid to Hospitals.
The Court asked the Centre to consider providing the equipment to voluntary organisations who are rendering their services to the public like, Gurudwaras and NGOs.
The Bench explained, “One must not forget that the equipment received as foreign aid is meant for the people and, therefore, should be available to them. No purpose would be served by them remaining stacked in boxes in some institution and not being available for use where they are most required”.
Towards the end of the first half of the hearing, the Central Government told the Bench that it will provide to the Amicus the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) developed by it for the distribution of foreign aid.