Asymptomatic patients in Jammu now allowed home quarantine
GMCH overcrowded as patients from 10 districts are being referred to the facility
JAMMU:The Jammu and Kashmir administration has allowed home quarantine of asymptomatic patients of covid-19 in Jammu province, akin to what it has been doing since long in Kashmir Valley. This decision, first taken only for Kashmir, had raised eyebrows and was considered discriminatory.
“The government’s major decision: All asymptomatic covid-19 positive cases in Jammu province to be in home isolation, with conditions as in Kashmir. Free pulse oximeter, compulsory download of Aarogya Setu app, proper isolation space with a poster outside the house. Those presently in hospital to wait till they test negative,” the department of information and public broadcasting tweeted on Friday.
From 28 covid cases on March 28, the number of cases in Jammu and Kashmir has increased to 35,135, of which 26,721 have recovered, while 671 have died.The government’s claims of augmenting health infrastructure to tackle covid-19 in Jammu and
Kashmir, however, have proved to be hollow, as Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Jammu, is bursting at the seams. This is even as GMCH, Jammu, is a major referral hospital of Jammu region, where patients from all 10 districts are
referred and treated.“Government medical colleges and hospitals in nine other districts of Jammu province are referring even asymptomatic covid cases to us. At least such cases can be retained and treated in their respective district hospitals,” said a senior doctor at the GMCH.
“We have just 33 beds in the isolation ward, which are full. I fail to understand why the government drags its feet when it comes to Jammu. Nearly 50 health staff, including doctors, paramedics and nurses of the GMCH have been tested covid-19 positive. They are asymptomatic, but the administration has hospitalised all of them in different hospitals despite the fact that they know the line of treatment and can look after themselves,” another doctor added.
“Since the anomaly has been removed by the government allowing home quarantine in Jammu province, things will improve for us and people as well,” he added.On March 28, the government has promised improvement in facilities on a war-footing. “We are also reviewing our facilities. As of now, there are nearly 35,000 beds under the administrative set up in Jammu and Kashmir to deal with covid cases. Of these, 6,500 beds in Jammu and over 10,000 in Srinagar while 1,000 each in remaining 18 districts,” a government spokesperson had said, adding that the government had earmarked 11 hospitals as exclusive covid hospitals — eight in Kashmir and three in Jammu. On August 17, the Congress had accused the administration of implementing two “discriminatory” set of rules for covid-19 management for Kashmir and Jammu regions.