F’bad villagers stage protest against setting up of quarantine facility

Faridabad: A group of residents from Pali village in Faridabad on Saturday staged a protest outside the Primary Health Centre (PHC) against setting up of a quarantine

Faridabad: A group of residents from Pali village in Faridabad on Saturday staged a protest outside the Primary Health Centre (PHC) against setting up of a quarantine facility in the village. The panchayat submitted a letter, signed by more than 150 people, to the deputy commissioner objecting to setting up of the facility in the middle of the village.

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“The health department should keep these international travellers near a hospital, not in the middle of a village where there are no health facility,” said Jeetendra Bhadana, a resident and activist.

“We have a stadium and two schools surrounding the PHC. Bringing people from nations affected by Covid-19 will make villagers susceptible to the novel coronavirus,” he said.

Bhadana said a notice was pasted outside the PHC for setting up the facility and the PHC was getting cleaned for the purpose.

According to the district health department, villagers are misguided that a Covid-19 ward is being set up for suspected and confirmed cases.

“There is a lack of awareness among villagers regarding the novel coronavirus. We need to educate them that quarantine is a precautionary step in containing and managing Covid-19. It does not imply that villagers can get infected by the virus,” said Dr Ram Bhagat, deputy chief medical officer, Faridabad.

Bhagat said that the department would try to reach out to villagers and in case of urgency would prefer other facilities too. “We are following the government guidelines for setting up the quarantine facilities in the periphery of the airport. We have identified five villages, which are almost 50-km away from the Delhi airport,” said Bhagat.