Two Uttar Pradesh ministers opt for self-quarantine

LUCKNOW: Finance and medical education minister Suresh Khanna quarantined himself at his official residence here and said he would get himself tested on the fifth day of his Monday visit to the Meerut medical college where three patients tested positive a day later.

Similarly, state labour welfare board chairman Sunil Bharala, whose post is akin to that of a minister of state, has decided to quarantine himself in Meerut.

Bharala had visited the Meerut medical college with

Khanna.

“I have quarantined myself at my residence and I am discharging all my official responsibilities from there,” Khanna said in a press note a day after HT reported his plan to get himself tested for the coronavirus infection.

“A day after my visit, positive cases were reported from the emergency ward of Meerut medical college. I had visited the place to ensure that non-Covid patients too get emergency facilities,” he said.

Khanna said he had inspected King George’s Medical University, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS) in Lucknow and later visited medical colleges in Kanpur, Jhansi, Saharanpur, Meerut, Ghaziabad and Moradabad.

“I had visited these colleges to check if emergency services were being given to people,” Khanna said. Bharala was upset that officials didn’t forewarn them about the presence of suspected Covid-19 patients in the emergency ward.

Officials, including Meerut medical college principal SK Garg, however, said that social distancing was ensured during the ministers’ visit.