The Delhi High Court on July 4, 2026 ordered surprise audits of 38 Delhi government hospitals where the NextGen e-Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) is operational, after a patient was denied an ICU bed even though the portal displayed two beds as available.
NIC Joint Director Aarti Garg was specifically directed to lead the inspections across all 38 hospitals, with a hard deadline of July 31, 2026 for completion, according to LiveLaw.
Background: How We Got Here
The Delhi High Court has been monitoring the rollout of the NextGen e-HMIS — a National Informatics Centre platform designed to digitise healthcare workflows — since at least February 2026.
On February 13, 2026, the same bench passed an order directing mandatory HMIS implementation across all onboarded hospitals, covering admissions, discharges, and related workflows.
- The NextGen e-HMIS has been rolled out across 38 Delhi government hospitals with 14 operational modules, developed by NIC to bring uniformity to public health administration.
- A companion application, ‘Delhi ICU Beds Saarthi’, was designed to provide real-time emergency ICU bed data to patients and healthcare workers.
- The triggering incident saw a patient denied an ICU bed despite the HMIS portal showing two beds as available, and repeated phone calls to the hospital’s listed numbers received no positive response, as reported by Bar & Bench.
The matter is a suo motu proceeding titled Court on its own motion v. UOI [2026 LiveLaw (Del) 631], before a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court.
The Ruling — Key Findings
The Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora passed the order on July 4, 2026, directing NIC to immediately begin surprise inspections of all 38 HMIS-onboarded hospitals, per LiveLaw.
The court stated: “This is an unfortunate situation which shows that despite the ICU beds being shown to be available on the website, the patient was not provided the same.”
The bench further observed: “Clearly there is disparity in the manner in which HMIS is being implemented across the Delhi government hospitals.”
The audit report must address three specific questions: whether ICU bed availability is accurately reflected on the portal; whether emergency calls for ICU beds are being properly attended to; and whether HMIS is being uniformly implemented across hospitals, according to LiveLaw.
The court also directed the Delhi Government to consider establishing a toll-free helpline with 10 to 20 dedicated lines for real-time ICU bed availability and hospital speciality information.
On the question of patient referrals, the bench sought a response on whether a nodal officer exists to ensure patients referred from one hospital to another are actually admitted — and directed steps to create such a mechanism if none exists.
The patient at the centre of the case was directed to be immediately referred to Dr. Amit Gupta at LNJP Hospital for ICU bed allocation and necessary treatment, per LiveLaw.
The Delhi Department of Health & Family Welfare was directed to extend full cooperation to NIC, including the provision of vehicles for conducting the audits, as reported by Bar & Bench.
In a related development, the court separately ordered an inquiry into over ₹15 crore worth of medical equipment lying unused at the Delhi State Cancer Institute due to staff shortages, according to Medical Buyer.
Reactions & What’s Next
No formal responses from the Delhi Government or NIC have been reported following the order. The Delhi Department of Health & Family Welfare has been directed to cooperate fully with the inspection process.
The audit report from NIC Joint Director Aarti Garg must be submitted to the court by July 31, 2026. The matter is listed for further hearing on August 7, 2026, per LiveLaw.
The case underscores a growing concern about the gap between digital health infrastructure on paper and its ground-level implementation across Delhi’s public hospital network.
Disclaimer
Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws may change or vary by case — consult a qualified lawyer before acting. The Courtroom is not liable for any reliance on this content.
