People complain about unnecessary stay in quarantine
Suhail Khan
Srinagar, May 17 : Scores of people who have been kept under quarantine by the administration at various Government established facilities in South Kashmir’s Bijbhera and in some parts of Srinagar have complained about the unnecessary stay at these centres.
Talking to Kashmir Despatch over phone, a group of people from these qurantine facilities said that despite staying there for about 21 days, the authorities are still prolonging their stop-off even against the COVID-19 norms.
These hapless people informed this newspaper that the concerned administration took their samples some 20 days ago and they are yet to recieve their reports. They said atleast the administration should have informed them about their status. “It is a question about the mental trauma we are undergoing in these centers. At least our reports, in case of any untoward, could have pacified us mentally and we would have prepared ourselves to stay here for whatever time we would have been asked for,” they observed.
They added that the mandatory stay of many of them at these centers is over and their samples have already been collected by the respective health authorities days back. “We fail to understand that why our reports are being delayed when the same reuire hardly three days?” said another caller from a qurantine centre established in Rajbagh to Kashmir Despatch.
Another resident of south Kashmir who is at administrative quarantine at Bijbhera told this newspaper over the phone, “Two times my samples were taken but ironically enough, the reports went “missing” once again.” He said this is gross negligence of the administration as how can such highly sensitive test reports prepared by the officials be mismanaged.
Meanwhile a similiar opinion was expressed by some returnees who have been put to quarantine by the adminstration at Rajbagh area of District Srinagar.
They said not only about the inadequate facilities and arrangements at the qurantine centre but the lack of proper communication on their health conditions have frustrated them and their families back at home.
“We feel helpless and hopeless as no one from the government is telling us about the test reports,” said a Chandigrah returned student who is at quarantine centre at Rajbagh.
A senior health official when contacted told Kashmir Despatch, “There is no possiblity of missing test reports,” he said and added that it could be a case of delay due to huge quantitiy of samples. He said over loading might be the reason for the delay, but he will still look into the issue.
A nodal officer at Srinagar told this newspaper that he will look into the issue as to why there was a delay in testing.
