Tipplers coming to Samba booze vends to be tested, mobile medical teams deployed
JAMMU: Tipplers in Samba district will now have an option to first get themselves tested for Covid before buying liquor of their choice at the vends.
Samba deputy magistrate Anuradha Gupta said, “On Wednesday, when liquor vends were opened after 42 days of lockdown, we saw a huge rush of people outside vends where social distancing norms were not followed.”
Consequently, we decided to deploy our mobile health teams outside liquor vends, she added.
“It is not mandatory, but we are ensuring that people in crowded places get tested for Covid. Since days and timings are fixed (for the liquor vends to operate their businesses), we stationed our mobile health teams which are conducting rapid antigen tests of people coming to buy the liquor,” she added.
She said that there was no official order as such. “Our mobile testing teams visit crowded places on hourly basis, including liquor vends,” she added. To a query, Gupta said, “Those testing positive are being dealt with according to the existing protocols like triage facility, Covid care centre, hospital or home isolation.”
The deputy magistrate said out of three shops in Samba town, where long queues were seen, rapid antigen tests were conducted at two liquor vends in Rajpura and Samba.
“All 177 samples taken were found negative, but we intend to keep doing the tests. It served as a great signal for zero tolerance to lack of adherence to SoPs. It is one of the effective strategies we have adopted. Not just liquor shops, but all places where we find that crowds are getting unmanageable. Testing sessions are instant law enforcers,” she said.
A local said, “On seeing the medical team members in PPE kits, who had put up testing equipment on tables outside liquor vends, many tipplers fled the site in search of other vends.”
A doctor at GMC in Jammu said, “I also saw the pictures and videos of these people outside liquor vends. With scant regards to their own safety and of others, they descended on liquor vends. I felt really sorry that we in PPE kits gasp work for hours together and these people do not realise the ramifications of their irresponsible behaviour.”
All 177 samples taken were found -ve. We will continue to conduct tests. ANURADHA GUPTA, Samba deputy magistrate