A 20-bed isolation facility at Rohtak’s Nindana village, set up five days ago, has been lying vacant, as patients with influenza-like symptoms in this village — the hometown of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal — prefer to stay in their houses.
In fact, none of the 46 isolation facilities in as many villages in the district, identified as Covid hotspots, has any patient.
Rajesh Kataria, husband of Nindana village Sarpanch Saroj, said that the isolation facility had 20 beds – 12 at the Primary Health Care and eight at a school – but none was occupied.
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“Firstly, the people in the village have enough space at home to isolate the Covid patients. Secondly, even in case of space crunch, they are too scared to come into contact with other patients. So, they prefer to stay at homes,” said Mr. Kataria.
He added that eight beds at the school were also being shifted to the PHC building to facilitate the teams of doctors visiting the patients.
Mr. Kataria said the serious patients preferred to go to hospitals, and those with mild and moderate symptoms chose to stay in home isolation.
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Mahesh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, District Rural Development Authority, Rohtak, said the purpose of the isolation centres was to provide space to those patients who cannot isolate themselves at home.
“It is not a hospital. It is just an additional facility for patients with mild and moderate symptoms to stay in isolation,” said Mr. Kumar.
He conceded that none of the isolation centres in the district had any patients so far.
The isolation facilities with an average 10 beds capacity have been set up in schools, Primary Healthcare Centres and Community Healthcare Centres in the district.
Similar centres have been set up in villages across the State to contain the spread of Covid.
However, the common refrain of the local villages in the district was that there were not adequate facilities, such as attendants and doctors, at these centres, which kept the patients away.
Mr. Kumar denied the allegations, saying that Gram Sachivs were the nodal officers for these isolation centres to ensure all facilities and Class IV staff was deployed for daily sanitisation.
“We have also invited volunteers to help the patients at these centres,” said Mr. Kumar, adding that doctors and nurses also visited these centres at regular intervals.