- Home
- Front Page
Kulgam, Shopian health officials mishandling the situation
ESS AHMAD. Dated: 4/10/2020 12:56:19 AM
'For potential carrier waiting for symptoms to get his test done can prove disastrous'
ANANTNAG, Apr 9: The experts and locals have questioned the mishandling of the suspected cases of the Corona virus by the Shopian and Kulgam health authorities. In Shopian at least five people have tested postive so far while in Kulgam district, two cases have tested positive.
In both the districts those who have tested positive had either come in contact with the previous positive cases or have co-travelled with them.
Despite knowing the travel and contact history of these positive cases, health authorities in both the districts did not bother to test them instead put them either in home quarantine or in administrative quarantine.
For instance the first case from Kulgam who turned out to be positive yesterday belonged to Tableegi Jamat and had a travel history outside the state. After his return by the middle of last month the person, according to locals usually used to roam in his locality, offering prayers in local Masjid and meet his friends and relatives.
However, few days later, official sources said, the authorities came and asked him and seven others from different localities of the town to quarantine themselves at home.
Three days ago authorities suspecting them as potential carriers of the virus took them for sampling to GMC Anantnag. After their samples were collected, sources said, he along with other suspects were again allowed to go home.
"After the sampling health officials should not have allowed them to go home instead putting them on adminstrative quarantine. This is the complete mishandling of the situation," said a health expert who is not allowed to speak to Press.
Locals from Kulgam said that after sample collection of the suspect, he continued to offer prayers in a local mosque for two days.
"On Thursday when he was declared positive he was working at the site of construction," a local said.
Another mishandling of the situation is that the health authorities in Kulgam had bundled all the eight persons in a single ambulance when taken for sample collection to GMC Anantnag.
The situation, health department sources said , was equally mishandled by the Shooian health authorities.
For instance eleven people from the district who had travelled with the first positive case from valley on their return from Saudi Arab were traced within a couple of days and put on adminstrative quarantine at PHC Tukroo.
"Though all of them had travelled with the Covid 19 positive case, health officials without any delay should have tested them. But instead they put them in quarantine together and allowed ten of them to go home after the quarantine period was over while collected samples of one of them only who later tested positive," sources said.
After the man tested positive, authorities again picked up the ten persons from their homes and again put them in quarantine and took their samples.
"Later four of them tested positive. Had they been tested soon after being traced the situation won’t have turned so grim. It is clear that the two couples who were earlier allowed to go home after their quarantine period was over and later tested positive might have infected many others," health sources in the district said.
"Putting the potential carriers under quarantine and waiting for their appearance of symptoms for tests will prove disastrous," they said.
Another blunder that the Shopian health officials did on Wednesday was to huddle the two suspected families in a single ambulance and bringing them to GMC Anantnag.
"If only one of the two families would have been carrying the virus there is every possibility that he might have infected all others who had been bundled with him in the ambulance," said a doctor at GMC Anantnag.