With little help from health department, ailing farmers relying on volunteers

With a pandemic raging and the winter in full swing, protesters against the central government’s farm laws at UP Gate have only volunteers to rely on for their medical

With a pandemic raging and the winter in full swing, protesters against the central government’s farm laws at UP Gate have only volunteers to rely on for their medical requirements.

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While the Ghaziabad health department says it does not have enough doctors to handle the situation, the district administration said it has done its bit: it has sent two ambulances, an officials who is not a doctor and it has supplied the agitation leaders with emergency phone numbers.

On the ground, protesters say the government’s efforts to take care of their health was a poor joke.

“For the last five days, we received about 50 patients every day who come with various complications like gastric issues, body pain along with cold and cough,” said Gursimran Singh who brought in private ambulance to the site with antibiotics, cough syrups and antipyretics, among others.

Tthe central government had requested that senior citizens, women and children protesters return home. The protesters, however, rejected it.

“The Ghaziabad health department has not sent any doctors or medicines or Covid-19. People are having to sleep in open, which affects their health,” said Sukhpal Singh who came along with Gursimran Singh.

UP Gate is some distance away from any residential or commercial areas and is an open area adjacent to Ghazipur landfill site. Ghaziabad authorities had arranged for drinking water and mobile toilets at the site and say that they also sanitize the area regularly.

Farmers from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and other neighbouring states had been protesting at the site since November 28.

“We get up early morning and bathe in open with cold water from the tankers despite the water not suiting us. Some also bathe with bottled water that we get as donations. There are plenty of mosquitoes and mobile toilets are completely choked. Over the 11 days of protest here, the conditions have become unhygienic,” said Gurlal Singh, a protesting farmer from Shamli in UP.

“There is lot of air pollution here which is also affecting people who are in the open. In Bijnor, we don’t have any pollution,” said Dinesh Singh, another farmer.

Charanjeet Singh, a farmer from Bilaspur, said that he had been suffering a burning sensation in his chest for the last few days. “I had come here four or five days ago. think that the change of water has affected me,” he said.

Dr. Soban Chaudhary is running a free medical camp under the aegis of Delhi gurdwara.

“Our camp has been functioning here since November 29 and we are checking about 100-120 patients a day. Most of them suffer loose motions, cough and cold and even body ache. Almost all farmers here sleep in open amid winter chill that hit them,” he said.

The district health department officials said that they had stationed two ambulances at the site and an official to deal with emergency situation.

“Most of our doctors are engaged in Covid-19 duty. Besides, we have only one physician in the government setup. But we do send our doctors to the protest site,” said an officer from the district health department who wished not to be named.

Municipal commissioner MS Tanwar said that he will look into the issues of sanitation and cleanliness.

District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said, “Anyone needing medical help can also contact police and sub-divisional magistrates deployed on duty. We have given our health department contact numbers to farmers’ leaders and they can get medical help whenever needed.”

Volunteers, however, are not enough to deal with possible health crisis, say doctors.

“In case the health department is short of resources, the administration can always seek help of private hospitals. From there, junior doctors or MBBS-level doctors can go to the site and help people,” said Dr. Ashish Agarwal, president of Indian Medical Association - Ghaziabad.