India Legal | 22 April 2020
A Public Interest Litigation has been filed before Delhi High Court seeking directions to the Government to pass appropriate orders to ensure that no pregnant woman is denied or discriminated against, in accessing essential health services and to take action against hospitals that refuse access and/or admission to pregnant women seeking essential health services.
The petition has been filed by SAMA is a Delhi based resource group working on the issues of women’s health and rights, including in the field of sexual and reproductive health rights for two decades. …
… The petition states that the Petitioner has made a written representation dated 18th April, 2020, to the Central Government as well as Delhi Government, bringing to their notice, the denial of health care, and more particularly the denial of delivery / childbirth services to pregnant women, and the barriers in accessing the same, that are being faced by pregnant women and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown.
Due to the dynamic nature of the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and due to circumstances inherent in public health emergencies, specific and localised guidelines and directions are required to ensure meaningful access to essential health services to pregnant women and for neonatal care. Despite various directions issued by the government, experience from the ground shows that pregnant women continue to face many hardships and in view of the impediments in accessing right to comprehensive reproductive health care and neonatal care during the lockdown, said the petition.