As cases, deaths surge, Gurugram medical chief transferred to Nuh

As the number of Covid-19 cases and fatalities continued to mount in the city, the Haryana government on Wednesday transferred chief medical officer Dr Jaswant Singh

As the number of Covid-19 cases and fatalities continued to mount in the city, the Haryana government on Wednesday transferred chief medical officer Dr Jaswant Singh Punia with immediate effect. Punia has been transferred to Nuh health department, in the same capacity.

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Punia was replaced by Dr Virender Yadav, civil surgeon, who was serving as the chief medical officer of Nuh. HT on Monday had reported that senior state officials had decided to transfer Punia following the rapid surge in coronavirus cases and deaths reported in the city.

The state health department on Wednesday issued an order stating that the governor of Haryana has made the transfer with immediate effect. Punia took charge as civil surgeon, also called as chief medical officer, of Gurugram health department in July 2019. He was transferred from Sonepat and he replaced Dr BK Rajora in Gurugram. Punia along with his team of seven doctors was handling the Covid-19 crisis since February. The number of Covid-19 cases in Gurugram saw a sudden spike last month and touched 1,000 cases on June 2 and doubled in the next six days.

“In Gurugram, the focus will be on testing and cutting the chain of transmission. The time gap between sample collection and test reports has to be brought down to 24-36 hours and quarantine measures has to be strengthened,” said Yadav, who will be joining the Gurugram office from Thursday evening.

Yadav has served in Faridabad, Charkhi Dadri and Karnal, before taking charge of Nuh health department on February 1 this year. Nuh was one of the worst-affected Covid-19 district after the Tablighi Jamaat incident was reported in April. More than 200 people with links to Markaz were traced in Nuh. Currently, the district has 56 active cases, out of the 111 total Covid-19 cases.