23 days and waiting
FAMILY YET TO HEAR FROM MINISTRY
MORE than 23 days in home isolation without any feedback from the Health and Medical Services Ministry on their swab tests has left Ester Lata and her family in a desperate state.
She claims that after ordering her husband to isolate on June 3 at their Naselai, Feeder Rd home, Health Ministry officials have swabbed him twice, but have not returned with any results yet.
She said her husband had not been to work since their home isolation and they had run out of food and money.
Ms Lata, 32, is an asthmatic patient and has two days of medication left.
Health Ministry permanent secretary Dr James Fong said he needed to check their records and had asked his team to attend to the family.
MORE than 23 days after being placed in home isolation, a family in Naselai Feeder Rd, Nausori, claimed they had not been cleared by authorities and were running low on food and medicine.
Ester Lata, an asthmatic, said her family was ordered to stay home after her husband and all the employees at his workplace were told to home isolate on June 3.
“We have been home since then with no source of income, no money, no food and I only have two days of medicine left,” the 32-year-old said.
She also claimed her husband had been swabbed by Health Ministry staff twice but had not received any results.
“On June 16, we ended our 14-day isolation, health officials came and swabbed my husband again and said they will give the result in three days. We are still waiting for it.
“We called to check on the results and asked them to screen us all, but there has been no response.
“We just want our clearance so we can go out and work and earn for our family.”
Health Ministry permanent secretary Dr James Fong said he would have to check their records.
Ms Lata said they had survived more than 20 days with groceries supplied by her husband’s employer.
“On the second day of isolation, my husband’s boss gave us groceries and for the past 23 days we have been surviving on it.
“There was no other assistance given.
“We have just one bowl of flour and rice and salt left and we have been eating roti with water or rice with some dhal boiled in it.
“We just have one meal a day because we don’t have enough food.
“My husband was told to go into isolation without any warning so we couldn’t prepare for it. How long can we survive like this?”
On June 16 we ended our 14-day isolation, health officials came and swabbed my husband again and said they will give the result in three days. We are still waiting for it. We called to check on the results and asked them to screen us all, but there has been no response. – Ester Lata