Rural belt’s reluctance to testing in Hisar leaves officials worried
ROHTAK: Hisar has emerged as the most affected district in Haryana with 641 deaths till May 12, prompting the health authorities to start testing in villages where people are complaining of Covid-like symptoms.
The district had reported 334 deaths till March 31, 106 in April, and 201 deaths till May 12. The district has 9,109 active cases and 77.4% recovery rate.
Haryana’s largest village Sisai saw 39 deaths, of which nine are confirmed Covid-19 deaths since April 20, and yet people are reluctant in appearing for testing.
Hansi SDM Jitendra Ahlawat said 39 people have died at Sisai, of which nine died of the virus since April 25 and 30 other deaths occurred due to fever and other reasons.
“No Covid death was reported in the village in the first wave and there was no need for sampling at that time. In the second wave, 15 people died due to Covid. Health teams are continuously collecting samples but the villagers are appearing in a less proportions. We had held many meetings with villagers urging them to appear for testing in large numbers but to no avail,” the SDM added.
A senior medical officer, who is looking after sampling at Sisai village, said the village has a population of over 20,000 and only 223 persons appeared for testing in a week and 6% of them were found infected.
“People have high fever, cough, wheezing but they are approaching quacks for treatment instead of appearing for Covid test,” the doctor added.
Balbir Singh, acting president of the Sisai municipal committee, said 54 persons have died in the village since April 24, of which 15 have died of Covid-19.
“The health department is including deaths which have taken place in the district only. More than 30 deceased had high fever and cough but none appeared for testing. Many of their family members had refused testing. The villagers have a mindset that if they test positive, they will not get a bed in government hospitals. We had sanitised the village on our own level,” he added. Parminder Singh, representative of Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja’s native village Parbhuwala, said the village saw 18 deaths, of which three are confirmed Covid deaths. Sarpanch Om Prakash, who is leading Talwandi Badshahpur village until new panchayat forms, said more than 16 persons have died in the last three weeks.
“Three of the deceased were cremated by doctors following Covid protocol,” he added. Hisar deputy commissioner Priyanka Soni has directed to start testing in villages where people are suffering from high fever and asked village nambardars to help health teams ensure proper testing.
“We have asked the villagers to adopt Thikhri pehra in their areas to stop the spread of the virus,” the DC added.