All three IGI staff test negative for radiation exposure, discharged

T h re e ai r p o r t employees, who were rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences ( AIIMS) on Friday mor ning with complaints of itching in eyes and bur ning sensation in their hands, tested negative for radiation exposure.

Rama Kant and Randhir Singh were taken to the AIIMS em e r g e n cy a ro un d 11 a m . The third employee, Subhash Chandra, was brought in around 2.30pm. But after being scanned thoroughly, doctors declared them free of any radiation exposure.

“We isolated them immediately after their ar rival and scanned them with a handheld instrument for radiation exposure. They were found emitting no radiation,” said Dr Amit Gupta, spokesperson for AIIMS.

“These employees had panicked once they knew about the leak; as such the substance they were exposed to is a very low penetrating alpha-beta radiation substance,” Dr Gupta said.

While Rama Kant and Randhir Singh, who came in the morning, were discharged by AIIMS in the afternoon, Subhash Chandra was discharged around 6pm.

The employees were suspected to have been exposed to radioactive Sodium Iodide 131. It is a nuclear medicine that is usually used to treat thyroid cancer and other related disorders of the thyroid gland.

In a major embarrassment for the BJP-led Union government, the Centre had to scrap a week-long cleanliness drive in the Capital, planned under prime minister Narendra Modi’s flagship Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) due to a communication goof-up.

The drive had to be called off as orders from the central govenment arrived just hours before the drive was to begin.

Sources say, the Centre did not inform the Delhi government or the civic agencies in Delhi in time to organise the drive. While the Centre planned a week-long campaign between May 8 and May 15, approval and letters of order reached local authorities too late for implementation.

Th e De l h i g ove rn m e n t received the orders on May 7. “We received the letter a day before the drive was to started. Further, it was a weekend, so we lost two more days and ultimately the campaign had to be scrapped,” a Delhi government official said.

The municipal corporation, on the other hand, received the order the day the campaign was to be officially launched, leaving senior officials helpless.

“The letters resulted in confusion, and while we tried to formulate an extensive plan for the week, it could not materialise. Such letters and orders should be dispatched at least a week before such campaigns are launched because they require extensive manpower and planning. Members of the public also have to be involved,” a senior official in the municipal corporation said.

A year after Modi launched the SBA on Gandhi Jayanti to help clean and raise awareness about sanitation, Delhi remains just as dirty as it was a year back. While the government allotted ` 4,260 crore this year under SBA, Indian cities continue to be among the most polluted in the world.

WHILE RAMA KANT AND RANDHIR SINGH WERE DISCHARGED IN THE AFTERNOON, SUBHASH CHANDRA WAS DISCHARGED AT 6PM