After loss of loved ones, villagers seek safety indoors
MEERUT : An eerie silence rules the alleys of Jithauli village, situated 12 kilometres from Meerut city in western Uttar Pradesh. The fear of Covid-19 keeps most of the villagers within the confines of their homes for a large part of the day.
“They now prefer to remain indoors instead of mingling with others,” says former village pradhan (head) Jeet Pal Singh that the days when villagers huddled around a hookah to discuss many things are a thing of the past, at least for now.
Singh has compiled the names of 11 people in the village who died after either showing Covid-19 like symptoms or testing positive.
The villagers say those who died in the village in the past one month include Kiranwati, 55, Kishanpal, 42, Bhoj Pratap Singh, 45, Bhanu Pratap Singh, 48, Jai Prakash Singh, 72, Sanju, 31, Mithlesh, 55, Sipattar, 70, Shyam Singh, 78, Pushpa, 52 and Akash, 19. They had fever and breathlessness, the villagers say.
Lawyers Bhoj Pratap Singh and Bhanu Pratap Singh were brothers. Their father Jai Prakash Singh, 72 and a 19- yearold boy Akash are among those who passed away. Bhoj Pratap Singh was district president of the Samajwadi party’s law cell.
A visibly upset Jeet Pal Singh says a majority of deaths have occurred either due to paucity of oxygen or not getting proper treatment in time.
There is a photograph of Bhoj Pratap Singh in which he is seen lying on a bench outside a ward at Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial (LLRM) Medical College in Meerut.
He allegedly could not get a bed in time and eventually succumbed to infection. A few days afterwards, his elder brother and father met with a similar fate.
The Thakur-dominated village has a population of approximately 4000 and farming is the main occupation here. Besides some families have their members in the police or the army.
A health department team paid its first visit to the village last week during the second wave. It conducted Rapid Antigen tests on more than two dozen people with fever and cough and distributed medicine kits to them.
Auxillary nurse midwife (ANM) Usha Sharma says one person has tested positive in Antigen tests while samples of others have been taken for RT-PCR tests.
The village has been sanitized for the first time since the Covid-19 spike. Jeet Pal Singh and other villagers say in spite of the deaths and the fact that people are suffering from fever, they are largely left at the mercy of just two health teams, comprising two Ashas (accredited social health activists), three anganwadi workers, their sahayika (assistant) and a supervisor ANM.
Shashi Tomar, an Asha worker in the village along with her other colleague and anganwadi workers, carried out a survey of families in the village to gather details of people showing Covid-19 like symptoms.
Tomar says, “We have identified approximately 50 people with symptoms during the second wave, provided them medicine kits and guided their family members on how to take care of themselves and keep the patient in isolation.”
Preeti, an anganwadi worker, explains that their task is to fill in inputs about suspected patients and their family members in a given format and forward this to their supervisor ANM.
ANM, in turn, submits this report to the doctor- in-charge of the community health centre (CHC) concerned under which the village falls. Jithauli is under Bhawanpur CHC.
Usha Sharma says working in villages has become risky. She adds that her 21-year-old son contracted the Covid-19 infection. After visiting the village Jithauli , she has given her sample and that of her husband for Covid tests.
She says health workers were vaccinated in the first phase and that is the only protection they have while interacting with suspected patients in villages.
Bhawanpur CHC incharge Dr Rohit Verma, says masks, sanitisers and gloves have been provided to Ashas, ANMs and anganwadi workers.
“We provide them with safety equipment whenever we receive them. Besides, they also receive funds and can utilise it for buying them,” he says.
He also says sufficient kits have been distributed in the village and vaccination has also been carried out.
However, Jeet Pal Singh says the villagers need to travel four kilometres to the health centre at Sisauli village to get themselves vaccinated. He also says the villagers’ demand for a vaccination camp in the village has not been meet.
Nevertheless, ANM Usha Sharma claims the first dose of vaccine has been administered to almost everyone in the 60 plus age group and they will be given their second dose after more vaccines become availabile and as per policy of vaccination. The former pradhan also mentions the difficulty being faced by youngsters in getting vaccination slots for the 18 plus age group.
“We and our children need vaccines and it should be arranged on priority,” the other villagers say.
THE VILLAGE HAS BEEN SANITIZED FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE COVID-19 SPIKE.