Chennai's door-to-door survey staff say they have not been tested for COVID-19 even once

CHENNAI: NGOs working with the city corporation said that their staff who are undertaking door-to-door surveys have not been tested for COVID-19 even once in the 40 days since they began.

An MoU signed by the corporation and NGOs, a copy of which is available with The New Indian Express, showed that the civic body had promised ‘comprehensive medical care’ for the NGO staff. Under the heading ‘Responsibilities of the First Party’ (Greater Chennai Corporation represented by the Commissioner), it said staff working in the project will be provided periodic screening, checkup, prophylactic medicines and treatment at government hospitals by the corporation through the government healthcare centres.

When a member of the staff of one of the 92 NGOs working with the corporation for the Community Intervention Programme tested positive for COVID-19, the NGO had to take it upon itself to test and treat him, said members. The patient was discharged only on Wednesday night after being treated for the infection which he is suspected to have picked up while on the job.

“We informed the city corporation that he had tested positive but we received no acknowledgment or follow up,” said Anu (name changed), the programme head of the NGO who wanted to remain anonymous.

These staff work directly with the community members in slums and interact with families including vulnerable members.

“Their jobs include bringing blood pressure and diabetes medications to the health centre for slum residents who may need them. What if they are asymptomatic carriers who pass it onto members of the community?” asked Sandhya (name changed), the head of another city-based NGO who did not want to be named.

Meanwhile, the city corporation makes it mandatory for all the NGO staff to assemble at the division office every day at 7:30 am, further increasing the chances of them picking up the virus, they said.

“On an average, there are 50-60 people gathering at the office every day. On some days, there are up to 120 people. They ask them to come just for the sake of marking attendance. What they should do instead is to ask the designated supervisor for each NGO to submit the attendance if at all they need it,” said Sandhya. She added that her staff have not been given kabasura kudineer or zinc and multivitamin tablets so far.

Sometimes, the staff have to travel around 5-6 kilometres to be present at the division office for attendance and then travel back to do the field work, they said. They also added that since they start
work at around 8:30 am, residents get annoyed at being woken up that early during the lockdown period and so usually don’t respond properly.

“There is no room for distrust in a pandemic. They should treat the NGOs as equal partners. We are all in it together and all we want is our staff to be able to go happily every morning to do their work,” said Anu.

“While the top officials may understand, the mid-level officials don’t and there is no mechanism to get our feedback heard by higher officials,” she added.

When contacted, a senior official of the city corporation said that 550 health camps have been conducted by the city corporation which sanitary workers and surveillance workers are encouraged to attend.

“Nearing 100 days, only a minuscule percentage of field staff tested positive and many of them have recovered. This is an example of how we take care of our field staff. Otherwise, this momentum cannot be sustained,” the official said.