Experts prescribe twin formula to tackle migrant challenge
LUCKNOW: The spike in instances of coronavirus infection after the return of migrant workers to Uttar Pradesh has prompted the state health department to increase surveillance at quarantine facilities and increase sample tests to assess the prevalence of the Covid-19 disease.
Medical experts say the increase in instances of infection should not deter policy makers from giving employment to the migrants in various sectors.
“There can be a limit to keeping them at home. Better still, give them work and a chance to earn. If they develop symptoms, they will be treated,” said Dr PK Gupta, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Lucknow branch.
“Some of those who have returned, particularly to eastern Uttar Pradesh, where migration is higher due to a lack of work, may test positive in the coming days but this should not become a reason to keep them deprived of their livelihood,” said Dr Gupta.
“Life, for migrant workers, (needs to) be made normal and work opportunity is one factor to do so. The mortality rate is very low in the state. We can use the opportunity to bring them back to (economic) life by following protocols,” said Dr Sheetal Verma, senior faculty member at the department of microbiology, King George’s Medical University.
The high recovery rate of 59.51% as well as the relative low death toll of 229 out of the total 8,729 coronavirus patients in the state have come as a glimmer of hope.
Regular sample tests show there is no community spread of the infection in Uttar Pradesh.
The government worked on a two-pronged strategy of giving better medical facilities for treatment of infected migrants and engaging the healthy ones in various employment schemes, said Dr AK Singh, a medicine practitioner.
Till June 2, as many as 2,404 migrant workers tested positive in the state after 74,237 samples were collected from among them.
Principal secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said the state health department conducted 3.8 lakh (380,000) sample tests in 31 government and private laboratories across the state.
At present, 3,448 infected patients are admitted in isolation wards of the various hospitals and 8,031 are in quarantine facilities, awaiting their test reports.
While 68 patients were on oxygen support, merely four were on ventilator support in hospitals, he said.
“With the starting of activities after Unlock 1, we need to be more watchful. To check the spread of the infection, the Covid guideline should be strictly implemented,” he said.
Additional chief secretary, home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi said around 30 to 32 lakh migrant workers returned to the state. Their skill mapping is in full swing and the revenue department has compiled the data of a majority of the migrant workers. The state government has urged the migrants, who walked to their destination or travelled in private vehicles, to visit quarantine facilities or tehsil offices in their home district for registration.
The state government decided to give employment to migrant workers according to their skill, he said.
After the return of the migrants, a large number of coronavirus cases was reported in east UP and the Bundelkhand region that are known as migrant zones, a health department officer said.
A large number of migrants from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi and Tamil Nadu were found infected, he said.
On Tuesday, no case was reported in the backward districts that witness large-scale migration, including Jaunpur, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Rae Bareli, Lakhimpur Kheri, Maharajganj, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Ballia, Jaluan, Sitapur, Badaun, Bhadohi, Chitrakoot, Mirzapur, Banda, Kanpur Dehat, Kasganj, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Hamirpur and Lalitpur districts, he said.