No ‘normal’ Hornbill Festival — Health department

Clarifies claims of discrepancies in selection of dentists under fast track recruitment

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Oct. 28 (EMN): The principal director of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Vizolie Suokhrie, on Wednesday said that Nagaland should not celebrate the Hornbill Festival like in the past, saying that all festivals are the same and ‘we are not prepared’. He, however, said that virtual celebration could be held.

Suokhrie was replying to a query raised at a press conference on Wednesday in Kohima, over the state government’s contemplation to hold this year’s Hornbill Festival virtually.

‘We have to see that social responsibility needs to be implemented, and this is what the department wants so that further transmissions can be prevented. Let us encourage virtual Hornbill but may not be the normal Hornbill Festival like the way it used to be,’ he said.

The doctor said that everyone needs to be responsible and play a positive role to prevent transmission of infection and avoid another lockdown in Nagaland.

“If that responsibility is there in every individual, then we do not need to go for another lockdown,” he said.

On whether the state will initiate plasma therapy treatment, he said that there are many debates on the treatment of Covid-19 but ‘no treatment is as effective as testing early and getting treatment early’. He added that plasma therapy will be introduced if situation compels as there are some positive recovered cases but they do not know how many of them have developed antibodies.

“Re-infection cases were also reported and that means antibody is not developed,” he informed, adding that the ‘whole world still does not know how the virus is still behaving, and therefore prevention is the best and beyond that early testing and treatment is the only answer’.

‘We have not reached the community transmission stage as we are able to establish almost all the source of infection, but if we do not behave carefully and as flu season is coming, more symptomatic cases and flu cases are being observed,’ he stated.

He informed that all cases are being linked to the primary contact, and with the increasing number of cases, ‘people might think there is community spread but if we go by the definition, despite the ever-increasing cases and the disease reaching to our community, there is no community transmission’. There is no clustering of cases in particular areas and contacts are being traced, he said.

Suokhrie said that they are working out a strategy to increase testing capacity ‘so that they will come to know the situation better’. He added that in some districts, the number of testing is ‘very less though positive cases were detected, and therefore we want to increase testing’.

He shared that of late, they have observed that out of the many complications, solidifying lungs is the most complicated, as such cases, even after recovery could have debilitated situations and never fully recover again. Therefore, early testing and diagnosis is better than waiting for the last stage, he said.

Informing that Covid-19 is more aggressive than seasonal flu, he has asked the people not to think that it will be like any other flu. “I think the most important thing is in order to avoid morbidity and mortality, take care and take initiative for your early diagnosis and early treatment,” he added.

He further appealed to the people not to stigmatise Covid-positive patients as it leads to unwillingness to self-disclose. He also said that many decisions made by the community are not warranted as they are not based on facts but driven by sentiment and emotion.

The state nodal officer for IDSP, Nyanthung Kikon, said that ‘there are cases where issues are come up because of disclosing names during contact tracing and people are hiding because of stigmatisation and imposition of rules by the community people, so we need to break this as it is not doing any good, and if more cases are hidden, we know what will be the outcome’.

He said that young people have the perception that ‘they will be either asymptomatic or recover’, but with more understanding of the virus, it has turned out that Covid sequentially affects all parts of the body and organs; therefore ‘testing early and getting treatment is the only intervention we have at the moment’.

‘It’s temporary appointment’

On allegations of discrepancies in the fast-track recruitment policy levelled against the Health department by the Indian Dental Association Nagaland State Branch (IDANSB), Dr. Suokhrie said that the ‘recruitment process was not an easy task but the government helped us to see that we substantiate our existing manpower’.

“The government has given relaxation to us to appoint as one-time dispensation temporary appointment, and this is not NPSC appointment but temporary appointment subject to NPSC regularisation, and so NPSC will have their way of conducting the exam,” he stated.

He lamented that some people ‘will keep on complaining’ despite knowing the process. He said that it is becoming ‘so difficult to work in Nagaland as people go to court or file PIL over small things’.

‘We try to do our best and we will re-examine the complaints but whatever has been done by the committee, I feel that they have done their best,’ he said, adding that ‘if there are some grievances, we are going to address but this has delayed all the processes of appointment’.

He asserted that ‘even with Ayush, they are not able to issue the appointment order because of court order, and even with the nurses, it was delayed’. So, he urged them to ‘come and discuss with them rather than taking it public, and also they can come and verify as they are not hiding anything’.

The official shared that because of Covid-19, they cannot have the normal way of recruitment and therefore alternate means were designed, “but we cannot fulfil the desires and expectations of everyone, so we have to go by the general (good)”.

Stating that going to court will only delay the process, he said that ‘it (recruitment process) is an open book, so they can come and see if they have any grievances’. ‘We were asked to complete the recruitment process long back within one month but because of all these issues it could not be completed, he added.