The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi to carry out dialysis on a kidney patient, a report in The Hindu said.

Justice S. Muralidhar passed the order on a petition filed by the Indian Council of Legal Aid on behalf of the patient, Dinesh Gupta. The council is a non-voluntary organization which provides legal aid to the poor.

The plight of the patient was brought to the notice of the council by a lawyer who stays in his neighbourhood at Kotla Mubarakpur in south Delhi. Justice Muralidhar in his order directed the patient to report to the Medical Superintendent of the hospital on April 21 for hemo-dialysis.

The court also issued notices to the union government and the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The petitioner has moved the court accusing the AIIMS of refusing to put him on dialysis unless he gets a kidney donor. Both his kidneys have stopped functioning.

He requires bi-weekly dialysis till he gets a kidney transplant. His kidneys were damaged following medication for some ailment in his intestine. The petitioner has an eight-year-old son and earns his livelihood by dropping children at schools.

Through his counsel R K Saini the petitioner submitted before the Court that he was unable to arrange a kidney donor.

He had earlier got his brothers-in-law for kidney donation but their offers were rejected following medical examination.

In his prayer, he urged the court to quash the AIIMS order refusing to put him on dialysis and direct it to do so immediately.

Accepting the notices, counsel for the government and AIIMS sought and got time to seek instructions from them as to whether dialysis facility could be provided to the petitioner on a long-term basis.

The matter will now come up for hearing on April 26.