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HT Spotlight: Covid warriors put duty before self
FIGHTERS ON THE FRONTLINE With India expected to hit the coronavirus peak this month, we take a look at how the health and police departments in J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh are fighting the invisible enemy amid a surge in cases and challenges, including increased risk, longer hours at work, and colleagues in quarantine
MARCHING ON Policemen and health workers are the frontline warriors in our fight against Covid-19. With India expected to hit the coronavirus peak this month, Hindustan Times reporters take a look at how the health and police departments in J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh are fighting the invisible enemy amid a surge in cases and challenges, including increased risk, longer hours at work, and colleagues in quarantine. Some of our warriors have made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty, while many have recovered and are back Covid duty.
43 doctors, over 200 security men test positive in Kashmir
Forty-three doctors in Kashmir have tested positive for Covid-19 while treating coronavirus patients in hospitals across the Union territory.
Director, health services, Kashmir, Dr Samir Matto says, “Almost all of them are doing fine.”
Dr Javeed Iqbal Monga, who is working at Government Medical College, Baramulla, was the first doctor from Kashmir Valley to have contracted the infection. His wife also tested positive and they were hospitalised at Srinagar’s Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) for three weeks before they tested negative.
“I was the first doctor from Kashmir to get Covid-19. I got the virus while performing intubation of a patient at Baramulla Medical College. I was scared initially because my condition was getting from bad to worse, but after a week of treatment, I started recovering,” he says.
“After the hospital stay, I completed home quarantine and got back to treating patients. Today, I can easily recognise patients with Covid symptoms as I have gone through this disease,” Dr Monga says.
He is ready to donate his plasma for therapy and save lives. “In J&K, plasma therapy has not started yet. But once it does, I will surely donate my plasma,” he adds.
Family members of Dr Gul Afroz Khuroo recently posted a message on social media, seeking prayers and blessings after the condition of the doctor deteriorated. She had got the disease at a hospital in Sopore and is fighting for life.
Security personnel have also borne the brunt of coronavirus while performing their duties.
More than 200 security personnel, including policemen, Central Reserve Paramilitary Force personnel and soldiers, have tested positive in the past four months in different parts of Kashmir. -Mir Ehsan
Part of the job, 12 Jammu doctors get back to duty
With a testing rate of 25,000 per million and a doubling rate of 22 days, the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has fortunately not seen a single death of a doctor or security personnel in its four-month drive against coronavirus.
“We haven’t lost any health worker or policeman to Covid though we have positive cases among them but the figure keeps changing,” says Bhupinder Kumar, the nodal officer of Covid-19 mitigation efforts in J&K.
“Twelve doctors engaged in treating Covid cases tested positive in four months. Most of them have recovered and the rest are on the road to recovery. It’s part of the profession,” says a senior doctor at Government Medical College And Hospital in Jammu.
Kathua district police chief Shailendra Kumar Mishra admits that six personnel of the central armed police force are undergoing treatment at a police training school in Kathua, which has been converted into a quarantine centre. “But we don’t have a single positive case in the police force of Kathua.”
On countering challenges, he says, “From the outset, we didn’t consider it a dreaded infection. It’s a weak virus. Kathua has recorded only one death of an elderly woman from Basohli so far.”
Mishra credits community involvement and sustained awareness campaigns for fewer cases.
“Initially, we had to be strict but it paid off. Today, we are comfortable in tackling the virus compared to other states and UTs,” he says. - Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Seven police personnel, two doctors catch infection in HP
Seven police personnel and two doctors have tested positive for coronavirus since the pandemic began four months ago. Fortunately, there has been no casualty among Covid warriors.
The first instance of a policeman getting infected was reported in Kangra district on May 12 when a 50-year-old head constable posted at Panchrukhi police station tested positive. He has since recovered but the source of infection remains untraced.
In Una, a constable at the superintendent of police’s office tested positive after which the entire premises was sealed and staff quarantined.
Two head constables and a constable at Bhabha Nagar police station in the tribal district of Kinnaur tested positive on June 26. Again, the source of infection remains untraced.
Two doctors have tested positive for Covid-19 in Himachal so far. One of them was deployed in the Covid ward of the Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (RPGMC), Tanda, Kangra. The other was a lady doctor on duty at a quarantine centre near Palampur town.
Both of them have recovered and are back on duty.
KEEPING MORALE UP AMID INCREASED WORKLOAD
Shiv Kumar Sharma, additional superintendent of police (ASP), Solan, admits policing has become challenging in such times. “The biggest challenge is that cops on frontline duty should not let the morale dip. Everyone knows the dangers; they have families and limitations. Precautions are of utmost importance,” he says.
The work of police has also increased manifold due to the pandemic. Apart from law and order and border management, police are engaged for contact tracing and supply of essentials.
Doctors too are struggling with increased workload. Dr Satyavrat Vaidya, the district surveillance officer in Kullu, says, “I haven’t taken an off in the past three months and haven’t even been able to meet my father who not keeping well.”
Doctors are working in shifts stretching from 12-18 hours a day as against the eight hours on normal days.- Naresh K Thakur
Aggressive testing helps Punjab Police, most cases asymptomatic
Punjab’s policemen and health workers on Covid duty are leading from the front in the fight against coronavirus.
From catching people violating protocol to ensuring strict lockdown, Punjab Police is on their toes yet so far only 0.8% of the 29,456 cops tested have been found positive. Tests of rest of the force is underway.
It’s compulsory for all police personnel to get themselves tested for Covid and so far, 37% of the total force has undergone the RT-PCR test.
A total of 241 cops have been found positive, while 168 have recovered till date.
Barring two deaths due to Covid-19, all police personnel were asymptomatic.
“From catching people jumping quarantine to ensuring law and order, even routine duties make police personnel vulnerable to the virus. We are doing RT-PCR tests for all and thankfully, a very less number has turned out to be positive,” says Punjab Police chief Dinkar Gupta.
With 13 positive cases, Sangrur has the maximum number of positive police personnel followed by Ludhiana City at 10.
According to a senior official, most of personnel have recovered and rejoined duty.
ADGP, welfare, V Neerja has been given the task of overseeing RT-PCR tests of the police force.
“I didn’t have any symptom but felt stiffness in the body one night. I went for a routine check and was stunned to learn about my positive status. I was shifted to a government isolation facility in Ludhiana, where I was kept for eight days. I’m perfectly fine now,” says assistant sub inspector Harmesh Singh from Ludhiana, who was posted at Ladhowal Toll Plaza. The ASI resumes duty this week.
FEW HEALTH WORKERS TESTED POSITIVE
Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, Punjab’s nodal officer for fighting Covid-19, says, “We don’t have the exact data of health workers testing positive since the outbreak. It’s only recently that we added the column for data of health workers and cops testing positive.”
Director, health and family welfare, Dr Avneet Kaur says, “Let me assure you this number is very low.”
In Government Medical College, Patiala, 22 health workers were found positive, including 10 nurses, 10 ward boys and a junior doctor. At least 20 ASHA workers also tested positive, a senior health functionary said, requesting anonymity. Ravinder Vasudeva
Strict oversight helps cut down cases among health workers in Chandigarh
Twenty-two healthcare professionals and a policewoman contracted Covid-19 infection since the first case was reported in Chandigarh on March 18. Most of them are back on duty at the city’s two tertiary care hospitals – Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research and Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32.
Work at the Sector 32 hospital was hit at one stage when 12 health workers tested positive out of 20 such cases in town.
In Mohali, two doctors and a policeman were infected, out of which a doctor is in quarantine, while in Panchkula, 11 health professionals and policemen contracted the virus and 10 are in isolation.
A 28-year-old resident doctor of the anesthesia department of GMCH-32 says that testing positive and getting isolated from the family was a tough experience. “I felt low initially and even thought it was the end of my career. But I persisted and recovered to join back work,” she says.
After infection was reported among healthcare workers, the city’s hospitals extended the sphere of providing safety gear to non-Covid wards and areas. “Safety of healthcare professionals is a must and we didn’t want to take any chances. Protective gear is being provided in emergency wards, which are the first point of contact between doctors and patients,” says PGI director Dr Jagat Ram.
“There is no room for complacency, so whenever, a healthcare worker dons the PPE, experts supervise it. There is a doffing area and the same activity takes place there. This has helped control the infection spread among healthcare workers,” spokesperson Dr Ashok Kumar said.
In Panckula, 11 health professionals and policemen have tested positive so far. The doctors who tested positive are working with a private hospital and so is a nurse. They are all posted in a non-Covid ICU but had treated a chronic kidney patient who tested positive in June.
A family of four that works in the Civil Hospital of Panchkula also tested positive. The husband , 47, works in the post-mortem department, while the wife cooks at doctors’ residences inside the campus. Their two sons work as class four employees on contract. The woman had travelled to Rajpura to attend a funeral after which she tested positive.
In Mohali, a 35-year-old doctor of a private hospital in Sector 69 tested positive on March 31, while on June 7, a policeman at the judicial complex was found positive. Both have resumed duty after treatment. On July 2, a doctor from Sohana Hospital tested positive and is under quarantine.
Civil surgeon Dr Manjeet Singh sums it up well: “Times are difficult and if we won’t work in solidarity, we can never defeat this virus.” - Hillary Victor
748 health workers, nearly 800 officials, cops infected in Haryana
Deployed on Covid duty in hospitals, containment zones, quarantine centres and testing labs, health workers and police personnel are vulnerable to catching the virus.
According to the state health department, 12% of the infected persons in the state are doctors, paramedics, police and government officials deputed to save lives of infected persons.
By June 28, the state had 748 infected health workers, which is 5.41% of the 13,829 patients. As many as 779 (5.6%) state police personnel, army and government officials have tested positive in Haryana so far.
“There is no need to worry as most of the infected health staff workers have recovered and resumed duty,” says Haryana health services director Dr Suraj Bhan Kamboj.
Dr Anjali, an ENT specialist at the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College and Hospital, Karnal, who tested positive on April 6, recalls, “It was shocking for me as I was worried about my two-year-old daughter and husband. But my family and colleagues supported me and I recovered to join duty after 26 days.”
POLICING RISKY DESPITE PRECAUTIONS
The state reported the first Covid 19 death involving a police personnel on April 4 as a sub-inspector died of coronavirus at the Maharaja Agrasen Hospital in Delhi. On June1, a sub-inspector of Haryana Police posted in Gurugram also succumbed to the virus.
Barring the two cases, police personnel have defeated the virus and resumed duty after quarantine.
Lata Rani, an assistant sub-inspector in Panipat, got infected along with her two brothers and parents on April 24. It took her 25 days to recover. “Being public servants, police personnel have to deal with people from different backgrounds daily. That’s why I don’t know the source of my infection,” she says.
Haryana director general of police Manoj Yadava says, “The number of infected cops is low as compared to other states. Policing is risky in these times despite all precautionary measures. We issued a detailed protocol and training was also suspended to avoid the spread of infection.”
Similarly, Bharti Arora, inspector general of police, Karnal range, says district police heads have been asked to monitor and provide all facilities if personnel test positive. Neeraj Mohan
With inputs from Shailee Dogra and Amanjeet Singh
