Nainital, Jul 24 (PTI) The Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday asked the state government to file a reply within three weeks on a PIL alleging lack of basic facilities at Pithoragarh Base Hospital.

A division bench of Justices Manoj Tiwari and Pankaj Purohit was hearing the PIL filed by Pithoragarh resident Rajesh Pandey.

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The PIL claimed that besides a shortage of doctors, the base hospital in Pithoragarh also lacks basic facilities. Therefore, pregnant women and other patients in need of immediate medical care are often referred to higher centres, it said.

Appearing before the court, the petitioner said that in many cases, pregnant women who were referred to higher centres gave birth in ambulances before reaching the referral centre.

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The petitioner also claimed that poor people coming from remote areas are not able to get treatment at the hospital.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)