Patients face social stigma

PURNIA/SAHARSA Apart from battling the coronavirus pandemic in an isolated room, patients are facing even the bigger challenge of social stigma in some areas

PURNIA/SAHARSA

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Apart from battling the coronavirus pandemic in an isolated room, patients are facing even the bigger challenge of social stigma in some areas.

A 55-year-old man in Simri Bakhtiyarpur block of Saharsa district had to take to social media after vegetable vendors, milkman and others stopped visiting his house.

“As soon as the news of my Covid infection spread, they all stopped visiting my house. My two small children had to go without milk for two days and we had to eat without vegetables. I then put out the appeal on a WhatsApp group and got help from outsiders, but not from the neighbourhood where I was born and brought up,” the man said.

Block development officer (BDO) of Simri Bakhtiyarpur, Manoj Kumar, said he would look into the matter if a complaint is made.

Simri Bakhtiyarpur has reported 115 Covid cases so far.

At Dandkhora in Katihar, a Covid patient complained that neighbours had even shut their windows and doors and treated him like an untouchable.