COVID SUSPECTS DEMAND QUARANTINE FACILITY
More than 70 journalists, who are also the suspects of Covid-19, from print and visual media on Sunday sat on dharna at Dhanbad’s Randhir Verma Chowk near civil surgeon office demanding institutional quarantine facility after their swab samples were taken after at sadar hospital.
These media persons came in direct contact with two other journos who were tested positive on Saturday.
After giving samples at Sadar hospital on Sunday morning, the journalists were expecting that they would be sent to institutional quarantine centres.
Getting no response from the district administration, media persons while maintaining social distancing sat on road near civil surgeon office. Till 6 pm they were not sent to facility quarantine.
Deputy commissioner Amit Kumar couldn’t be contacted for a comment. However, integrated diseases surveillance programme (IDSP) officer Dr Zaffarullah Sheik has been asked to arrange quarantine centre for media persons.
“I have been asked to arrange a proper quarantine centres with all facilities. I am looking for it and soon media persons will get a better place to stay” said Dr Zaffarullah Sheikh
Media persons feel that they have been trapped. “Being suspects of Covid-19, we can’t go home in order to save other family members and offices have already banned our entry,” they said.
“We were asked to stay at Polytechnic building which lacked all basic facilities like drinking water, toilets and others. We are demanding such place which must have these basic facilities,” said Balwant Kumar, a journalist of vernacular daily.
Another senior journalist Ram Murti Pathak said, “The administration had called us for taking samples in the morning and since then we have been loitering here without food. Neither deputy commissioner nor Press Club officials have showed any concern towards our woes.”
However, Press Club president Sanjiv Jha said that proper arrangement were being made to quarantine these journos at railway hospital and IIT Indian School of Mines hostel.