The Delhi High Court on Friday declined to entertain a PIL seeking directions to the Centre and the AAP government to make it mandatory to obtain plasma from patients who recovered from COVID-19 either at home or at a hospital and directed that it be treated as a representation. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said people cannot be forced to give an undertaking to donate plasma before receiving treatment for COVID-19 and it has to be voluntary. The court asked the respondents — Centre, Delhi government, National Disaster Management Authority and various civic bodies — to treat as a representation the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which had sought framing of guidelines and constitution of a statutory body to regulate the smooth availability of plasma. The petition had claimed that the Centre and Delhi government were not taking effective steps for ensuring sufficient availability plasma for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The plea had also sought to make it obligatory on the part of every recovered patient to donate plasma at first instance. However, the bench was of the view that people cannot be forced to donate plasma.
