Delhi High Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Change In Covid Treatment Protocol

A petition was moved in the Delhi High Court which had claimed that use of antipyretics, like paracetamol, antibiotics and steroids should be restricted to severe cases of COVID-19 and not at the initial stage of the infection.

The Delhi High Court today dismissed with cost of Rs 25,000 a petition seeking change of the existing protocol for treating COVID-19 patients, saying the course of treatment was not fixed on some "ipse dixit" (unproven statement) and was arrived at after discussions, tests and experiments by experts. A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh declined to entertain the plea, moved by two doctors and two research analysts, which had claimed that use of antipyretics, like paracetamol, antibiotics and steroids should be restricted to severe cases of COVID-19 and not at the initial stage of the infection. The court said which medicines are to be provided and in what dosage has been decided on the basis of experiments and verified data and it "cannot be altered easily" on the basis of suggestions made by petitioners. "It ought to be kept in mind that COVID-19 treatment protocol for the country is not fixed on ipse dixit (unproven statement). It is fixed on the basis of variety of experiments, tests and discussions by experts," the bench said.