Silver lining
In spite of the innumerable instances of the coronavirus pandemic heaping social discrimination (ostracism) on the society both during the first wave last year and the ongoing second wave now, there are umpteen examples of some individuals exhibiting human values in abundance.
In Jammikunta town of Karimnagar district, a landlord did not allow his tenant (a woman) enter the premises as she was tested COVID positive.
In another instance at Tandur, a COVID positive patient eking out a living by running a roadside eatery was ostracised socially by neighbours in the locality. Unable to withstand the ‘trauma’, the person took the extreme step to end his life by jumping in front of a moving train.
However, a Sub-Inspector of Police at Kamanpur in Peddapalli district came to the rescue of a migrant family from Jharkhand involved in construction activity after they were not allowed to enter their rented house by the landlord as a couple of them tested positive. Unable to convince the landlord to allow them to stay in the rented portion, the SI provided shelter to the family in a government school after restoring power supply and arranging medicines and food. Such examples provide a silver lining in pandemic times.
‘Deprived’ lot
The decision of the government to convert Gandhi Hospital into an exclusive COVID institution from Saturday has led to huge problems for patients, particularly those from outside the city, who are already undergoing treatment.
The hospital authorities started discharging patients from various non-emergency wards from Friday night and shifted accident victims and others with surgeries in emergency wards to other hospitals.
This landed poor patients who needed more treatment to get admitted to private hospitals because other government hospitals like Osmania were also crowded with in-patients.
Work from home?
As the surge in COVID cases continues, focus has now shifted again to whether government employees should be allowed to work from home or physical attendance would be mandatory.
Employees in the Secretariat and offices of the heads of departments and commissionerates are a worried lot these days given the rapid rise in positive cases.
COVID cases are being reported regularly from different floors of the BRKR Bhavan and the same is the case with other major government offices. This prompted a debate on whether employees should work from home or whether there should be rotation system allowing
only a section of employees to attend office on a given day.
(B. Chandrashekhar, N. Rahul and M. Rajeev)
