Newly opened quarantine facility shut, health dept to hand over 500 personal kits to patients

Two days after 10 people suspected to the Covid-19 disease alleged lack of facilities at the BBDIT College, Muradnagar, the Ghaziabad health department, on Friday,

Two days after 10 people suspected to the Covid-19 disease alleged lack of facilities at the BBDIT College, Muradnagar, the Ghaziabad health department, on Friday, closed the centre and shifted the patient back to MMG Hospital, which only has 50 beds and is severely short of staff as well.

HT Image

The 100-bed quarantine facility at BBDIT College campus in Duhai had admitted 10 suspected cases and they were shifted from MMG Hospital on the night of April 7. A day later the patients took to social media and also posted videos showing

According to the videos shared by the suspected patients and the report published in HT, the centre did not have electricity, there was no water to drink, no water or soap to wash hands, no sanitiser, the toilet doors were broken, there were no blankets and the food was inedible. One woman seen in one of the video broke down while stating that some rooms were accommodating two people, instead of one.

“After the patients flagged lack of basic facilities, we shut it down a day later. Five patients were sent to MMG Hospital and eight were discharged as they had tested negative for Covid-19,” chief medical officer Dr NK Gupta said, adding the facilities at BBDIT College, as per the administration, were proper and each patient had one bed in one room, unlike MMG Hospital where there is a dormitory-type bed arrangement.

“From our side arrangement was proper. Since the patients did not like the facility and raised issues we decided to shut it down instead of ramping up facilities which would have diverted more of our resources,” Dr Gupta added.

It must be noted that the district needs at least 500 more quarantine beds to cater to patients in future. At present, the district has different quarantine facilities with a total of 554 beds, where 436 people were housed till Thursday afternoon.

“We are looking for more colleges we can turn into quarantine centres and require at least 500 more beds to cater to patients in future,” Dr Gupta said, adding that the items purchased (water bucket, mug, slippers, toothbrush, toothpaste, mosquito repellent, liquid hand wash, sanitizer, soap, face masks and gloves, among others) to meet the patients’ demands will be handed over for use at MMG Hospital.

Meanwhile, the people who were shifted back to the MMG Hospital said they felt safer there.