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Lack of facilities at govt quarantine facility triggers protest in Ludhiana
The kin of Hazur Sahib pilgrims and Kota-returned students, who are quarantined at the facility, alleged that those who had tested negative for the disease were being kept in the same ward as Covid-19 patients
Government Mother Child Hospital on Chandigarh Road here turned into a protest site on Friday morning after the kin of Hazur Sahib pilgrims and Kota-returned students, who are quarantined at the facility, started raising slogans against the hospital authorities, alleging lack of facilities in the isolation ward.
While sloganeering by some of the pilgrims and students was witnessed inside the hospital, their family members were seen protesting outside.
They alleged that those who had tested negative for the disease were being kept in the same ward as the Covid-19 patients. “There is no food or water to drink. Toilets are all dirty and being used by both infected patients and others,” said the agitated kin.
The inmates expressed their support for the protest by raising their hands from the windows of the ward. The students were shouting from inside asking their parents to take them home. The parents of the Kota-returnees, who have tested negative, demanded that they should be discharged and sent home.
Witnessing commotion, Division No 7 police reached the spot and began pacifying the agitated relatives and quarantine inmates.
Shimlapuri resident Parmod Kumar said his son Kishore had returned from Kota on April 27. “The very next day, the health department brought him to the hospital on the pretext of collecting his samples. Despite testing negative, he is not being discharged and made to share the washroom with Covid-19 patients,” said Parmod.
Parents also alleged that their kids were not getting food on time. “Breakfast is not available in the morning, lunch is provided during evening, while dinner is given around 11pm and sometimes at midnight,” complained one of the parents.
Those who live nearby said they often delivered food for their children at the hospital, but the same did not reach them at times.
Another parent R K Singh told HT that his son Sipur said there was barely any arrangement for food and the toilets were unkempt.
Senior medical officer (SMO) Amita Jain said she was incharge of the treatment of Covid-19 patients.
When asked about the issue, joint MC commissioner Navraj Singh Brar admitted that they had faced some hiccups initially as nearly 100 inmates were rushed to the hospital. “But now everything has been streamlined. The food is prepared by Kalgidhar Gurdwara and is being served on time. Tea and water is also regularly served those in quarantine. There are a few troublemakers who are inciting others as they want to be shifted to a private facility. We have identified them and they would be shifted to another isolation centre,” said Brar adding that infected patients were being kept separate from others.
Meanwhile, Youth Akali Dal district president Gurdeep Singh Gosha also accused the administration of failing to provide facilities to the Nanded-returned pilgrims.
He shared several videos of weeping pilgrims, who returned on Thursday, urging the authorities to send them back to Nanded due to the lack of facilities.
Recently, many videos were shared on the social media showing inmates arguing with the hospital staff for not providing masks. Pictures of overflowing bins and dirty washrooms at the hospital also made the rounds on the internet.
HEAT TAKING TOLL ON DOCTORS’ HEALTH
Wearing a PPE kit and collecting samples under extreme heat is taking a toll on the Ludhiana civil hospital staff. On Thursday evening, a doctor who was collecting samples of pilgrims while standing in a kiosk at the civil hospital fell unconscious due to dehydration. It was alleged that there was no provision of water in the cubicle due to which the doctor had fainted.
AIDS CONTROL WORKERS DEMAND SALARY HIKE
Demanding salary hike and permanent jobs, total 750 members of Punjab AIDS Control Employees Welfare Association, who have been working on contract basis, staged a protest against the government on Friday. They said that for the past 20 years, they had been working on contract with meagre salaries. Association president Mahinder Pal said that besides carrying out de-addiction programmes they were also deployed in Covid-19 units.
