Local body officials can help dispel fear around testing

Open House: People are opposing Covid testing. Do you think it requires intervention by govt?

Lack of education to blame for issue?

In private labs, results of the samples were shown as positive whereas in reality they were negative. This led to doubts in minds of people. Private hospitals charged exorbitant rates for treatment of infected patients and state government took no action against such erring private institutions. Rumours like increase in number of patients to get national or international financial assistance or important body organs are taken out while providing treatment to the patient. The state government took no steps to remove such doubts. It should have taken the help of the industrial associations and gram panchayats. Meanwhile, poor infrastructure at government care centres further added to the woes. Last but not the least, the reason for people not voluntarily coming forward for testing is lack of education.

Harsh N Johar

Testing method is superfluous

Sample collection of all for Covid testing is much superfluous. Only those who have symptoms like dry cough, fever, loss of taste and smell etc should be tested. In villages, panchayats and in cities councillors and welfare societies of colonies should take responsibility to educate the residents in their areas about this. This will save time and energy of various departments to tackle this issue.

Santokh Singh Dhillon

More facilities needed to curb virus spread

Patients being treated at government hospitals have been complaining of lack of facilities. That is the reason people are opposing sampling. Private labs are costly and charge Rs2500 for a test. Not only this, private labs have also issued false reports of patients just to make money. The pandemic has already dried up savings of many and then such unscrupulous activities crop up. Nowadays, humanity is no more there. The government has become deaf and dumb; they are least bothered. In fact, government itself is busy minting money.

Shailja Thakur

Persuasion and not coercion will work

People in villages and industrial areas are opposing sample collection because of the widespread rumours. It is said that the government receives Rs3 lakh per patient from the WHO. So, the government deliberately declares many infected to increase the number of patients. Secondly, it is rumoured that people admitted in government hospitals are intentionally ill-treated to pass away and internal organs are then extracted to sell them in the market under a racket. Thirdly, their contention is that when there is no vaccine and medicine for cure then why people are being admitted to hospitals. Fourthly, sheer lack of facilities in government hospitals recently ratified by an MLA as reported by The Tribune dated September 7. Hence, to motivate the people for testing the government must intervene to nullify. The facilities in government hospitals should be drastically improved to make them people-friendly. Hygiene should be given top priority. Rumour mills working overtime should be brought to a grinding halt. Persuasion not coercion can cajole people to get them tested.

Tarsem S Bumrah

Rumours could worsen Situation

As the focus of Punjab’s Covid-19 battle shifts to rural areas, the state Health Department is up against an unlikely adversary – villages that refuse to be part of mass sampling drives to contain the spread. There is some news of negligence on part of heath authorities. The health teams are battling against this misinformation. This scare has grown so much that villagers refuse to sampling. Moreover, they are not able to understand that asymptomatic patients can be carriers as well. The mistrust has grown so much that the district health authorities are confronted with life threatening acts. The situation could worsen if the negative propaganda against health workers isn’’t brought to a halt. The time has come when leading members of village community including panchayats come forward and educate village people for testing and treatment.

Amarjit Kalsi

Conduct random tests to fight the pandemic

During this time of Pandemic, it is very important that random testing should be done so that the disease can be contained as early as possible. But, some people are trying to oppose sample collection for testing. This issue can be solved by meticulous intervention from the government. It should make proper plans for testing and area wise schedule should be informed to the people through newspapers, radios and online websites. The testing should be conducted in supervision of the sarpanch village as they can better interact with the people and help doctors in sample collection. In industrial areas, help of trade unions, labour unions and industrial associations so can be taken so that labour class could cooperate in testing. It should educate people and make them understand that the testing will help to contain the uncontrolled spread. There is a common fear among people that if tested positive, they will be forcibly admitted to hospitals but the government should aware people about home isolation and assure people that nobody would be forced to do so.

Ashray Gupta

QUESTION

The Covid-induced lockdown has changed the trend of wedding ceremonies in India. The celebrations, which earlier used to be fancy, big-budget, colourful and elaborate, are now turning into a low-key affair. Do you think the trend is for good and should continue even post-Covid?

Suggestions in not more than 200 words can be sent to [email protected] by Thursday (September 17).

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