The Delhi High Court has directed the Union health ministry to respond to a contempt petition filed against online diagnostic services. The court has set a deadline of January 20 for the ministry to submit its reply.
The petition alleges that these online services are operating illegally and in violation of the Clinical Establishments Act. This legal action follows a previous order from the court that instructed authorities to address the issue of illegal online health aggregators.
The case originally stems from a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on online health service aggregators collecting diagnostic samples for COVID-19 testing while allegedly posing as "medical diagnostic laboratories". The PIL was filed by Dr. Rohit Jain, a practicing pathologist from Jaipur, through his lawyer Shashank Deo Sudhi. Jain's petition seeks the issuance of guidelines for registration and minimum standards for sample collection centers operated by these online aggregators.
The petitioner has argued that many online health service aggregators operate illegally because they lack accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) and approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) or any other regulatory body. The petition also claims that unauthorized pathological labs are being run by underqualified technicians who provide unscientific diagnostic test reports, endangering citizens' lives with potentially false results. Additionally, it is alleged that these online aggregators do not adhere to the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, regarding proper disposal of biomedical waste and are not registered with state pollution control boards or committees.
In August 2020, the Delhi High Court instructed the Delhi government to take action against online health service aggregators operating illegally. The court emphasized that any action should be taken after hearing from all stakeholders, including the alleged violators. The court, at the time, was hearing the PIL seeking a ban on these aggregators collecting samples for COVID-19 tests. The High Court has sought to know from the AAP government whether its pathological laboratories and hospitals are NABL accredited.
The court has expressed its expectation that the Delhi government will comply with the judicial order to regulate online pathological labs, warning that failure to do so could result in contempt action. The petitioner in the case has sought contempt action against top Delhi government officials for allegedly not complying with the court's previous order.
