Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Thursday sought a comprehensive state policy and clear operational guidelines to prevent denial of emergency medical care on technical grounds such as absence of an Aadhaar card, taking serious note of allegations that a man was refused treatment and later shifted to a mortuary while still alive.
The court directed the state govt to file a comprehensive counter affidavit detailing its policy decision and guidelines on providing medicare facilities, particularly to patients suffering from near-fatal diseases, within three weeks.
A division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin issued the direction while hearing a suo motu public interest litigation concerning a man allegedly denied treatment at Mahabubabad govt hospital in the last week of Oct 2025. The PIL was initiated after advocate Bathini Komuraiah wrote a letter to the Chief Justice highlighting the incident.
In his letter, Komuraiah alleged that hospital staff denied treatment to V Ravi, a man in his mid-40s from Jayyaram village in Chinnagudur mandal, despite him suffering from serious kidney and other ailments. The denial was allegedly on the grounds that he was not accompanied by an attender and was not carrying his Aadhaar card.
According to the letter, Ravi was later abandoned by hospital staff and spent two days near the hospital canteen. He was subsequently found lying unconscious and was presumed dead by hospital personnel, who shifted him to the mortuary.
Right to life
Nearly 24 hours later, sanitation workers cleaning the mortuary noticed that he was alive and alerted the police. Ravi was shifted back to the hospital and provided treatment, but he succumbed in the first week of Nov. “This state of affairs depicts a serious lacunae in providing medicare facilities to the residents of the state which is treated to be one of the facets of Article 21 of Constitution (right to life),” Komuraiah alleged.
It later emerged that Ravi had been living alone after his wife and children deserted him and that he had become an alcoholic. Hospital authorities denied allegations that treatment was refused or that he was dumped in the mortuary. The state govt subsequently ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Taking serious note of the allegations, the high court sought a detailed response from the state, including policy measures and operational guidelines to ensure that emergency medical care is not denied on technical or procedural grounds. The matter was adjourned for further hearing to March 18.
