Haryana government does away with the practice of marking houses of Covid-19 patients

The Haryana government has decided to put an end to the practice of affixing stickers or labels outside the houses of Covid-19 patients, while directing the district

The Haryana government has decided to put an end to the practice of affixing stickers or labels outside the houses of Covid-19 patients, while directing the district administration to remove those which are already pasted. Officials cited it as a move to bring behavioural change for ending stigmatisation of positive patients. In an order issued by the newly appointed chief secretary of the state, Vijay Vardhan, the administration and health department have been directed to implement the directive at the earliest.

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The order issued on Wednesday stated that the practice of pasting stickers of home isolation or quarantine in front of the houses of Covid-19 positive patients has to be stopped. Authorities have also been asked to remove those stickers that have already been pasted.

“The decision has been taken as the central government’s focus is on bringing behavioural change rather than enforcing anything. It has come to our notice that the pandemic has led to stigmatisation and shaming of Covid-19 patients. In the past, several brawls have taken place between the patient’s family and the government workers who visited homes to paste labels. The new directive would prevent such situations,” said Dr Suraj Bhan Kamboj, director, general health services, Haryana. According to him, the move will motivate people to go for testing at early stages of infection.

As reported by HT earlier this week, a petition was filed with the Delhi high court regarding the pasting of posters outside the homes of Covid-19 patients, citing it as a serious infringement of the fundamental right to privacy. The plea also contended freely circulating name of the persons who tested Covid-19 positive to the residents’ welfare association and on WhatsApp groups, that allegedly led to stigmatisation of Covid-positive patients.

In Gurugram, Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has been assigned with the task of pasting labels. Several issues have been reported where posters/stickers of home isolation were being pasted at wrong addresses with city residents complaining about it. In Large Outbreak Regions (LOR), many families complained that home isolation posters were posted outside their homes despite testing Covid-negative. Also, many positive patients expressed the plight of being harassed by the RWAs or society members once their test status came in the public domain. A Covid-19 patient, who preferred anonymity, said, “The disease can be tackled. However, the way you are being treated by the society when you test positive is reflective of the society’s attitude towards such patients. They should not be harassed. This new order will help in getting rid of the unwanted issues created after the person is tested positive.”

Ashish Singla, medical officer, MCG said, “Posters were pasted to create awareness regarding prevention from infection but we will now follow the new directives issued by the government. RWAs have been conveyed to remove the posters at the earliest.”

Condemning the state’s move, Dhruv Bansal, media spokesperson for the DLF RWA, said that pasting of posters should not be completely done away with. Instead RWAs should be given the authority to carry out the activity. “The reason for the stigmatisation is that posters remain pasted for a long time even after the patient recovers in 14 days. The MCG has to be informed to take out the posters, which takes time. Till the time poster is pasted outside the home, no one picks up the garbage or delivers food items, creating difficulty for the already recovered patient. Therefore, the process should be decentralised and RWAs should be given the authority to paste labels so that they can remove it in a timebound manner. This practice of putting up poster does help others from contractiing Covid-19.”