Hindustan Times (Amritsar)

Frontline warriors account for 12% coronaviru­s infections in Haryana

A total of 748 health workers got infected in state till June 28

- Neeraj Mohan neeraj.mohan@hindustant­imes.com ■ ■

KARNAL:: Frontline warriors, including doctors, paramedics, police personnel and government officials, account for 12% Covid-19 infections in Haryana, as per the data provided by the state health department.

The frontline warriors are more prone to the virus owing to their duties in Covid-19 hospitals, containmen­t zones, quarantine centres and testing labs.

Till June 28, 748 (5.41% of total 13,829 patients) health workers, including doctors, nurses and other hospital staff had tested positive for the disease.

Also, 779 (5.6%) police, army and government officials are also among the cases in Haryana so far.

Dr Suraj Bhan Kamboj from the Haryana Health Services said, “The health department officials are working very hard and many of them got infected while on duty. However, there is no need to worry as most infected health workers have recovered and resumed their duty.”

He said as of now no health worker in the state has succcumbed to the virus. “Proper guidelines have been issued to ensure the safety of doctors and paramedic staff. More doctors have been recruited to reduce work pressure,” Kamboj said.

Despite the increase in number of cases, the morale of doctors in the state remains high.

Dr Anjali, ENT specialist at the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College and Hospital, said she tested positive for the virus on April 6 after coming in contact with Karnal’s first Covid-19 patient, who died a few hours after his samples were taken.

“It was shocking and I was worried about my husband and 2-year-old daughter. My family and colleagues supported me. I recovered and joined duty after 26 days,” she said.

Haryana had reported its first Covid-19 death on April 4 after a sub-inspector died at the Maharaja Agrasen Hospital in Delhi. On June1, another police official posted in Gurugram had also succumbed to the infection. However, most policemen have defeated the virus and returned back to duty soon after their quarantine period was over.

Lata Rani, assistant sub-inspector in Panipat had tested positive along with her two brothers and parents on April 24. She had to remain off duty for more than a month as she took about 25 days to recover.

“Being a public servant, police officials have to deal with several people daily and that is why most infected cops, including me, don’t know their source of infection,” Lata said.

As per the informatio­n, toplevel police officials take regular reports about infected cops and all facilities are provided to them.

Karnal range inspector general of police Bharti Arora said directions have been issued to the district police heads to monitor all policemen and provide facilities if any of them test positive for the virus.

So far, only two police officials from Karnal range got infected and both have now recovered, the IGP added.

Haryana director general of police Manoj Yadava said, “We cannot say that there is rise in coronaviru­s cases among police officials. The number of infected policemen is very low as compared to other states. The job is risky but all precaution­ary measures are being taken to ensure that our policemen remain on duty without getting infected. We have issued a detailed protocol and even training was suspended to avoid the spread of virus.”

 ?? PARVEEN KUMAR/HT ?? A health worker collects a swab sample of a woman in Gurugram on Friday
PARVEEN KUMAR/HT A health worker collects a swab sample of a woman in Gurugram on Friday

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