Delhi Hospital Reforms Stalled as HC Presses Gov on Delayed e-Hospital Rollout

It took a stern view of the slow progress on the NextGen e-hospital platform, a digital hospital management system intended to streamline access to healthcare data for patients and caregivers.

The Delhi High Court has expressed serious concern over the delayed rollout of critical healthcare reforms across government hospitals in the Capital.

This was regarding the NextGen e-hospital application designed to provide real-time hospital information.

The court has summoned the Delhi government’s health secretary, stating that continued inaction has already begun to defeat the core purpose of the e-hospital initiative and weaken emergency healthcare delivery.

The bench noted that even basic medical services, including radiological diagnostic facilities, remain unavailable or delayed in several public hospitals.

It took a stern view of the slow progress on the NextGen e-hospital platform, a digital hospital management system intended to streamline access to healthcare data for patients and caregivers.

The NextGen e-hospital application was envisaged as a unified digital interface that would allow citizens to view real-time availability of general beds, ICU and HDU beds, doctors on duty, and emergency services across government hospitals in Delhi.

According to the court, the lack of timely implementation has rendered the system ineffective.

“The entire purpose of implementing the said application has been defeated due to the substantial delay, which is completely unacceptable to the court,” the bench observed, underscoring the urgency of deploying a functional e-hospital system for emergency response.

The case has its roots in earlier suo motu proceedings initiated by the High Court amid reports of patients being unable to find ICU beds and reliable hospital information, particularly during medical emergencies.

In response, the court had constituted the Dr SK Sarin Committee to recommend systemic reforms in Delhi’s public healthcare infrastructure.

One of the committee’s key recommendations was the creation of a central control room, backed by an e-hospital platform, to provide live data on ICU and HDU bed availability and enable faster patient referrals.

Despite assurances given to the court in previous hearings, the bench noted that implementation of the committee’s recommendations has remained patchy.

It warned that the continuing delay could directly affect patient outcomes, especially for critically ill individuals who are often forced to move from one hospital to another in search of available beds.

The court reiterated that the recommendations must be implemented “in letter and spirit” to restore public confidence in the healthcare system.

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