Five deaths, 93 fresh cases in Amritsar district

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 2

With five more deaths, the district toll due to Covid increased to 177 on Wednesday. The health authorities also reported 93 fresh cases, taking the total count to 4,242. With a total of 3,289 recoveries, the number of active cases stood at 776.

The deceased have been identified as Parshotam Lal (67) of Bhalla Colony (Chehharta), Swarno (60) from Karampura, Amarjit Kaur (80) of Partap Avenue, Pritpal Singh (65) of the Cheel Mandi area and Mohamad Iqbal (40) of the Shani Mandir area in Rayya. Iqbal was being treated to PGI, Chandigarh.

The new cases include 51 persons with influenza-like illness (ILI) and 42 contacts of positive patients. One ILI case was reported at PNB branch on the Lawrence road. Of contact cases, four were reported from Corporate Hospital, three each from Military Hospital and the Police Control Room and two from Amritsar Club.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Gurpreet Singh Khaira has warned miscreants against spreading rumours regarding organ harvesting of Covid patients. In a press released by the district administration, the DC said if anybody had evidence to substantiate the allegations regarding organ harvesting, he or she should bring it to the notice of the authorities. He added that no complaint regarding organ harvesting had been filed till date. “The administration would take a strict action against anyone spreading such rumours,” said the DC.

Run OPDs on alternate days, demand hospital staff

• With at least 18 employees of the Jallianwala Bagh Martyr’s Memorial Civil Hospital testing positive for the Covid-19 pandemic till date and its Senior Medical Officer Dr Arun Sharma losing his life to the virus, employees of the hospital have demanded that the OPD services be run on alternate days instead of every day.
• They demanded that while one day the OPD blocked should be closed for sanitisation, the next day it should function so that employees could be saved from catching the virus. They also demanded that if any employee contracted the virus, his treatment expenses should be borne by the government.
• Employees Welfare Association Civil Hospital chairman Rakesh Sharma said, “The employees who tested positive for the virus included eight doctors and 10 persons from paramedical staff. It is a very alarming situation and preemptive steps should be initiated immediately.”
• Rakesh said they had earlier taken up the matter with the Civil Surgeon. “As and when an employee tests positive, senior officials of the department do not try to contact him or his family. It has lowered the morale of employees, especially after the death of Dr Arun Sharma.” n The employees reasoned that the Health Department must ensure the safety of the health workers, so that they could continue to serve patients. “In other government offices, the buildings are sealed when an employee tests positive. Even employees are asked to stay home. But here all such precautions are not being adopted,” he reasoned. The association stated that if the OPD services were run on alternate days, employees would be ready to manage emergency and on-call services.