While observing that there needs to be consistency and uniformity in using the NextGen e-Hospital Management Information System (HMIS), the Delhi High Court has asked the Joint Director, NIC (National Informatics Centre), along with her team, to conduct surprise inspection/audit in all 38 hospitals across Delhi on different dates, till July 31, 2026 and place a report on the same.

The High Court was considering a matter involving a live demonstration of the NextGen e-Hospital Management Information System and the daily 'ICU Beds Saarthi' application.

The Bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora held, “It is clear that there needs to be consistency and uniformity in using the NextGen e-Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) and it is also necessary to ensure that the persons who are manning the various telephone lines in the hospitals and are present at the hospitals do not turn down patients.”

“Ms. Aarti Garg, Joint Director, NIC along with her team shall conduct surprise inspection/audit in all the 38 hospitals across Delhi on different dates, till 31st July, 2026 and shall place on record an audit report…”, it ordered.

Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal represented the Petitioner while Advocate V. S. R. Krishna represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

On June 30, 2026, the GNCTD was asked to arrange a live demonstration of the Next Gen e-Hospital Management Information System and the daily 'ICU Beds Saarthi' application by a competent official, which was supposed to be implemented in 38 hospitals across Delhi. It was brought to the Court’s notice that one patient- Kamar Jahan, aged 70 years, a resident of Seelampur, Delhi, who had breathing difficulty on June 30, 2026, had initially approached the Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital, Shastri Park, Delhi and she was referred to GTB Hospital/LNJP Hospital by one Dr. Prakash, Sr. Resident, Department of Medicine at Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital.

The said patient required an ICU bed; however, when the patient approached the LNJP Hospital, she was discharged with some cursory treatment on the grounds that no ICU beds were available. Despite the ICU beds being shown to be available on the website, the patient was not provided with one.

Reasoning

One of the arguments of the Joint Director, NIC, with her team, which is developing the NextGen e-Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) was that the UHID number enables the details of the patient to be accessible within the hospital, and only when it is transmitted to the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA), the patient details would be accessible to other hospitals as well.

The Bench stated, “It is, therefore, unclear as to how the HMIS Platform is being used by the hospitals and it is also unclear as to why there is no uniformity in the implementation of the HMIS Platform.”

The Bench also found a disparity in the manner in which the HMIS Platform was being implemented across the Delhi Government hospitals. “It is clear that there needs to be consistency and uniformity in using the NextGen e-Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) and it is also necessary to ensure that the persons who are manning the various telephone lines in the hospitals and are present at the hospitals do not turn down patients.”

In order to ensure that there is an effective implementation of the systems, the Bench directed Aarti Garg, Joint Director, NIC, along with her team, to conduct surprise inspection/audit in all the 38 hospitals across Delhi on different dates, till July 31, 2026 and place on record an audit report. “The GNCTD shall consider setting up a toll free number with at least 10 to 20 lines available at any point for emergency services and ICU bed availability related enquiry, which is properly manned and the proposal in this regard shall be placed before the Court”, it ordered.

The attention of the Court was also brought to the fact that a PET cyclotron equipment stated to have been purchased at a cost of Rs 15.42 crore had remained non-operational and non-functional for several years despite a substantial amount having been spent. “It is clear that this is a gross waste of public resources”, the Bench stated while further ordering, “Accordingly, it is directed that all the hospitals under the GNCTD shall conduct an audit and file a report before this Court as to all the equipment/machinery which have been purchased by them and are lying unused.”

Cause Title: Court On Its Own Motion v. Union Of India (Neutral Citation: 2026:DHC:5377-DB)

Appearance

Appellant: Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, Advocates Vishwajeet Singh Bhati, Ayush Pratap, Vikas Pratap Singh, Rohan Pratap Singh, Devansh Singh, Chirmaya Sywal

Respondent: Advocates V. S. R. Krishna, V Shashank Kumar, SC Avnish Ahlawat, Advocates Nitesh Kumar Singh, Aliza Alam, Mohnish Sehrawat, Ravinder Agarwal, Manish Kumar Singh, Vasu Agarwal, CGSC Arunima Dwivedi, Advocates Himanshi Singh, Monalisha Pradhan, CGSC Radhika Bishwajit Dubey, Advocates Gurleen Kaur Waraich, Kritarth Upadhyay, Amulya Dev Mishra, Rakesh Malhotra, Bharat Malhotra, Advocates Gayatri Bhatia

Click here to read/download Order


Delhi High CourtJustice Pratibha M. SinghJustice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.