ROURKELA: Even as the rural pockets of the tribal-dominated Sundargarh district are not spared by the virulent Covid-19 second wave, the administration’s faulty home isolation strategy and stigma attached with the disease has only made things worse.
Worst affected are Sundargarh and Talsara Assembly constituencies (ACs) and a part of the Rajgangpur AC in the Sundargarh sub-division. These areas are surrounded by borders with Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand besides Sambalpur, Deogarh and Jharsuguda districts.
For the rural population here, the designated NTPC Covid hospital at the Sundargarh town is the only resort. Originally meant for patients with mild symptoms, few ICU beds have been added and the number of oxygen beds increased in the facility. But the hospital allegedly faces gross mismanagement.
Claiming that the situation is alarming, Sundargarh MLA Kusum Tete said spread of infection and high mortality is a result of lack of quality healthcare and faulty Covid-19 management. In the absence of Covid Care Centres (CCCs) or panchayat-level institutional quarantine centres, villagers are forced to stay in home isolation irrespective of the fact that a majority of the families live in one room-house.
With stigma attached with the disease, many families are unwilling to come forward for testing, she alleged and added that due to mismanagement, patients are left to fend for themselves at the NTPC Covid-19 facility. Tete opined that adequate quarantine centres at rural level could have helped in curbing the Covid spread.
As of now, the rural pockets and three small urban pockets of the district excluding Rourkela city account for nearly 6,000 active cases. Sundargarh Chief District Medical & Public Health Officer SK Mishra said all possible efforts are being put in place to arrest the trend.
With help of PRI members, mass testing is being done and micro-containment zones are created. Stating that positive patients are willing to stay at home, he said that Covid Care Centre at Sundargarh town has 40 occupants against the capacity of 100 now. He informed that 30 infected migrant workers have been isolated at TMCs.