Health dept takes 34 hrs to hospitalise 3 corona +ve women in Hoshiarpur

HOSHIARPUR : Three women of Moranwali village in Hoshiarpur continued to remain under home quarantine even a day after testing positive for coronavirus on Friday. Two children, aged 1 and 8, were also in their care.

It was only after objections from villagers and constant media queries that the women were finally moved to the isolation ward of the Hoshiarpur civil hospital on Saturday evening.

The women, aged 60, 28 and 66, are wife, daughter-in-law and relative of a 68-year-old coronavirus patient, who had contracted the disease from the SBS Nagar septuagenarian who became the first Covid-19 casualty in Punjab on March 18. The man is presently admitted to a hospital in Amritsar while his 31-year-old son, who had also tested positive, is undergoing treatment in the civil hospital here.

The patriarch had tested positive on March 21, his son on March 25 and the reports of three women were received by the health department at 9:30am on March 27 (Friday). In fact, the entire family was brought to the civil hospital the day it was learnt that the patriarch had come in contact with the SBS Nagar, but they were later sent back, leading to delay in collecting of samples, confirmed sources.

After receiving the reports, the department had claimed that the women were being shifted to hospital, but these claims stood exposed when villagers informed mediapersons that the family continued to stay in the village. Sarpanch Manjit Ram said they had conveyed their concern to the visiting health staff, but to no avail. Stating the women had not shown any symptoms yet, civil surgeon Jasbir Singh said: “We let them stay at home, as they have two children to look after. Rapid response teams are keeping a close eye on them, and if they develop any symptom, they would be immediately shifted to hospital.”

The civil surgeon said the women had been advised not to venture out and to keep the children at a safe distance. He said the village had been completely sealed, and there was no risk to any outsider. However, in the evening, the department said the women have been shifted to the civil hospital around 7:30pm.

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We let them stay at home, as they have two children to look after. Rapid response teams are keeping a close eye on them.

JASBIR SINGH , civil surgeon