Shifting people from the Delhi Mosque for Quarantine is an Epidemiological Blunder: Dr. IS Gilada
Whereas, the fall out of people traveling from the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi to rest of India and elsewhere in the world in itself has led to disastrous consequences in Coronavirus spread all over, evacuation of the Delhi’s Nizamuddin mosque and taking the inmates for quarantine was an epidemiological blunder.
This could have been avoided, by using all the possible collective wisdom and shifting only those with symptoms or sickness for hospital care.
The ‘mosque’ itself should have been treated as a ‘quarantine centre’ like the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined near Yokohama, Japan from February 3, 2020.
In any case, the people were there with their own volition. By taking out people – some of which may have been infected and others being already exposed to Coronavirus – several more people were exposed to Coronavirus that includes doctors, other heath caregivers and security forces as also the communities they were taken to.
The most unfortunate and obnoxious behavior of the Jamaat members who spat on doctors in full public glare needs larger condemnation.
ASI demands that those perpetrators should be charged with the stringent sections like 299 and 301 of Indian Penal Code for Culpable homicide.
First it was wrong on the part of that Jamaat to have defied the government orders from the top and then it was equally wrong for the authorities to have ignored such a major mishap.
This is the biggest cluster spread of Covid-19 in India as on today and had done a major dent in the efforts for containing the spread of Covid-19 in India.
In fact we were doing so well until this and expecting a much better outcome than the western countries.
ASI condemns attack of Doctors, Healthcare workers and Police:
Today we have seen several incidents of attack ob doctors, healthcare workers, police who are doing their best to serve the very people who have turned to be attackers.
Prominent among them are those in Indore (MP), Munger(Bihar), Hyderabad and Bengaluru and medical caregivers and in Dharavi-Mumbai on Police.
Person, no less than the Prime Minister of the country, has acowledged the contribution of medical community and just 11 days back the entire nation honoured the medical community by clapping and making sound for 5-minutes.
The medical community is working in extreme hardships, with limited Personal Protective Equipments (PPE), staying away from families and taking calculated professional risk of contracting the lethal Cooronavirus infection.
There are already dozens of Covid-19 cases in healthcare transmission.
The medical caregivers needs to to be protected and cared for.
If such incidences of atrocities on doctors and medical caregivers continue, they will not be give their best and then we will be fighting a loosing battle. All our socio-economic sacrifices will go waste.
Dr. Ishwar Gilada,
President, AIDS Society of India and
Governing Council Member, International AIDS Society
Cell No. 9820081566 / E-mail ID: gilada@usa.net