JAC–Covid 19 Peren district through its secretary Mathiuthai Gonmei, has taken strong exception to the statement of Nagaland In-service Doctors Association (NIDA) which defended two doctors responsible for release of returnees from Haryana who arrived from various quarantine centres at Dimapur.
Gonmei in a release claimed that the Haryana returnees included boys who prevented their three COV1D-19 positive friends from being taken away from their facility quarantine (FQ) at new DC complex, Chumoukedima for not having been given test reports.
He said they were sent to Peren on completion of 14 at FQ without any further retest despite positive contact history, adding they possibly were contaminated in spite of their negative results by having direct contact with the positive cases that night.
JAC said that on June 23, the returnees were released without their COVID-19 status being ascertained by the two doctors at around 10.20 p.m. at Jalukie town staging ground and without the knowledge of DC Peren.
The next day on June 24, JAC said at the request of deputy commissioner Peren, it had to pacify youths at the meeting over the release of the returnees, where the two doctors admitted their mistake and apologised. The two doctors had assured to do contact tracing but according to JAC they absconded and later they were subsequently transferred adding “as if rewarding them for their misdeed.”
Later test result of the returnees confirmed that 47 out of the 96 returnees were COVID-19 positive but by then most were already in their villages and homes and thus, attempts by the district authorities to contain the virus was in vain.
The committee claimed that some returnees travelled the whole night before reaching their destinations only late on June 24 at Jalukie town, Tening town, Beisumpikam, Mhaikam village etc.
Further JAC claimed that owing to late travel, some returnees had to be dropped directly at their homes and thus, increasing spread of infection.
As a consequence, JAC said six localities including some villages were made containment zones and that possibly, more villages and localities could face the same fate if rapid contact tracing was done as demanded by several organisations.
In view of the seriousness of the issue, JAC demanded to know from NIDA, the H&FW department and the state government, as to what SOP were frontline workers supposed to follow. It also asked whether SOP is meant for the safety of citizens or for convenience of frontline workers?
JAC also said as part of the District Task Force it has been contributing to controlling and disciplining some of the unruly returnees. However, the June 23 incident was not the fault of the returnees but negligence of the two doctors, said JAC.
JAC said it really appreciated the response of the health department, though late, in sending team from the directorate to assist the staff on the field and the dedication of medical staff of the district by working tirelessly, risking their own lives.
JAC, however, demanded clarification from NIDA on what ground was it defending the two doctors? JAC however, appreciated the response of the H&FW department, though belatedly deploying a team from the Directorate to assist the medical staff at Peren. JAC acknowledged that the medical team and staff were working tirelessly and risking their lives for the safety of people in the district.
JAC said as per newspaper reports, the district administration said everything under control and the medical department claimed it has enough staff and facilities. JAC then asked why was contact tracing and swab collections of primary and secondary contacts not started at Mhaikam, Beisumpuikam, Mpai or Kezanglo despite transmission of virus in these places since June 24,2020 morning?
JAC requested NIDA, the H&FW department and state government to ascertain facts from the ground before “speaking out to the media” and to “stop cover-up exercises” for realistically containing the spread of the virus on war footing.