Suspected woman patient flees 3 clinics, flies back to Philippines

LUDHIANA: A 35-year-old woman suffering from flu fled from three private health facilities in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Ludhiana districts after she refused to get her tests done for the coronavirus, sending the health authorities and police into a tizzy.

The woman in question, who was possibly suffering from coronavirus and hails from Jalandhar city, flew back to the Philippines where she lives, hours after she remained untraceable, the police said.

She arrived in Jalandhar on March 6 and stayed at her residence for a couple of days, it was learnt. She kept on visiting her relatives during this time. The last location of her mobile was traced to Ludhiana’s Sherpur Chowk on Sunday evening, following which the phone was switched off.

A health department official said she first visited a private clinic in Jalandhar’s Model Town locality on Sunday morning as she had dry cough and fever. The doctors there asked her to go to the local civil hospital to get herself tested for the coronavirus, he added.

She instead went to a clinic in Hoshiarpur district’s Garhshankar in the afternoon. The doctors there too advised to get herself examined for the disease but she gave them a slip.

In the evening, she reached a private hospital at Gurdev Nagar in Ludhiana.

“Since the woman showed symptoms of the virus, we asked her to stay in contact with the health authorities or visit the civil hospital for coronavirus test. But she left our hospital in a hush despite our having counselled her till midnight. Since we are not authorised to confine a person, we immediately sounded an alert and informed the health department authorities about this,” said Dr GS Grewal who runs the medical facility.

Ludhiana police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal said, “We received information about the woman with symptoms of flu. We put her mobile phone under surveillance.”

Principal secretary (health and family welfare) Anurag Aggarwal said, “An exercise was conducted under the supervision of the Jalandhar and Patiala deputy commissioners. We kept tracking the woman through the people she contacted until she switched off her phone. We received information Ttoday morning that she had taken a return flight.”

“As per our knowledge, she has reached Singapore. She went to Delhi in a private vehicle. Since no test was conducted on her, we cannot term her a confirmed or suspected coronavirus case. She only had symptoms. Since she came from a coronavirus-affected country we asked her to get her tests done,” the Principal secretary (health and family welfare) said.

35-YEAR-OLD WOMAN, WHO HAILS FROM JALANDHAR, SUFFERED FROM FLU; REFUSED TO GET HERSELF TESTED FOR VIRUS DESPITE REPEATED ADVICE