Residents raise concerns over increasing deaths in rural areas

Rural areas of the district have started to bear the brunt of the second wave of Covid-19, with several villages reporting deaths either due to suspected influenza-like illnesses or confirmed Covid-19 cases

Rural areas of the district have started to bear the brunt of the second wave of Covid-19, with several villages reporting deaths either due to suspected influenza-like illnesses or confirmed Covid-19 cases. Locals said that almost every third household in villages of Sultanpur, Darbaripur, Badshahpur, Sikanderpur Barha and Baspadmaka in Pataudi are exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19.

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The situation has been compounded because a majority of villagers are thronging to chemist shops and relying on local medical practitioners or indulging in self-treatment, which has delayed hospitalisations and led to several deaths, according to locals.

Naveen Kumar, a resident of Baspadmaka village in Pataudi on Tuesday, took to Twitter on Tuesday seeking the intervention of authorities over rising Covid-19 infections and deaths in his village. “Around 10 people have died in the last 10 days in my village and all these are Covid-19 cases. Almost half of the families in the village have people suffering from cold, fever and other symptoms. I want the authorities to increase testing, create local medical facilities and also enforce lockdown strictly,” said Kumar.

Most of the village heads as well as residents said that people were scared of getting tested as they did not want to get quarantined. Besides, people do not have access to testing facilities in the vicinity, they said.

Pravesh Chouhan, a resident of Sultanpur village said that his brother’s business partner contracted Covid-19 and relied on medication from an acquainted chemist for a couple of days, and did not go for a Covid-19 test. “His condition deteriorated suddenly and he was admitted to a hospital in Farrukhnagar, where the test confirmed Covid-19. He could survive only a single day in the hospital,” said Chouhan, whose younger brother is also under treatment for Covid-19.

In Sultanpur, locals said that around seven to eight people have died due to Covid-19, with three of the deceased in their thirties.

Despite the frequent deaths and rising Covid-19 cases, villagers allege that there have been little efforts from the administration to increase testing, sanitise the rural areas or enforce Covid-19 safeguards. “We have multiple people within same families who have serious Covid-19 symptoms. The administration needs to extend the outreach to villages and help them,” said Ram Bir Sarpanch, a resident of Darbaripur.

In Bajghera village, locals said that around seven to eight senior citizens have died in the last 10 days due to influenza-like symptoms. “I have myself spent half a month in a hospital due to infection. Although the situation is not bad in our village, things need to be brought under control,” said Virender Singh, who is popularly known as Biru Sarpanch.

Sunder Yadav, sarpanch of Sikanderpur Barha village, said that he has started taking rounds of the streets and prevents any gathering over hukka or card games. “The cases are increasing every day. We need to enforce masks and also isolate contaminated zones,” said Yadav, whose entire family tested positive for Covid-19 positive over the past week.

In response to the pleas for intervention and help from locals in rural areas, the Gururgam district administration on Wednesday said that it has decided to introduce thikri pehra (village patrols) to check the movement of people in the rural areas.

Yash Garg, the deputy commissioner of Gurugram, said that directions have been issued in this regard and patrols will be done with the help of respective panchayats.

Officials of the health department, meanwhile, said that testing has been increased to identify new cases.

Dr Jai Prakash, district surveillance officer for Covid-19, said, “In seven high-risk rural areas, at least 17 deaths have been reported till now. Until April, the positivity rate was almost 21%, which we trying to control through aggressive testing.”

Although many patients are under home isolation, critically ill patients are referred to Civil Hospital in Sector 10.

Dr Manmeet Nehra, medical officer, Bhora Kalan primary health centre, said, “Critical cases are referred to Civil Hospital in sector 10 or subdivisional hospital in Pataudi, where 25 beds with oxygen concentrators have been reserved for Covid-19 patients. Only a few critical cases have been reported till now.”