MLA irked over delay in shifting COVID-19 case

The Alleged delay in shifting COVID-19 positive cases lodged in a quarantine facility irked a legislator in Manipur who also drew the chief minister’s attention to the issue on Wednesday.

With five more positive cases confirmed among the returnees, 44 COVID-19 cases including four recovered patients were reported till 6.30 pm, Wednesday.

Three of the positive cases confirmed today have been admitted at COVID care facility of RIMS hospital and the remaining two at JNIMS hospital, Imphal, an official release of the COVID-19 Common Control Room stated .

The five cases were out of a total of 603 samples; 403 at RIMS’s VRDL and 200 at JNIMS’s VRDL tested in the last 24 hours, the release indicated.

A total of 6834 samples have been tested till date, it added.

On the other hand, as people from the state stranded at various places of the country continue to arrive in the state, the total of individuals on quarantine rose to 14,039. Of this, 10,293 were in the institutional quarantine centres and the remaining 3746 in community quarantine centres.

Among the five confirmed cases, two were from a community quarantine centre in Thoubal district. Their results came in around 1 am on Wednesday.

They were allegedly shifted to the COVID care facility after much delay and only in the afternoon which authorities explained was due to non-availability of ambulance to transport them.

The delay in shifting the confirmed patient irked Congress MLA K Meghachandra, the legislator looking after the community quarantine centre. 

The irked MLA lambasted authorities of state health department for their mismanagement in dealing with the pandemic and immediately wrote to the chief minister to provide atleast an ambulance for Thoubal district in this time of crisis.

“If possible, kindly fix one ambulance vehicle reserved only for Thoubal district at the earliest for COVID-19,” the MLA wrote.

On the other hand, chief minister N Biren Singh today hosted a discussion session with leaders of different tribal communities on effective tackling of the pandemic COVID-19 and other issues faced by hill people due to the nation-wide lockdown. 

Around 60 leaders representing the apex bodies of different tribal communities took part in the discussion, which was conducted with strict adherence to social distancing and other safety norms at the chief minister’s secretariat.

During the session, authorities of the state government also handed over awareness leaflet on COVID-19 printed in different dialects to leaders for onward distribution to the villagers in their respective areas.

Official sources said that during the discussion, the chief minister expressed strong confidence that the COVID-19 pandemic can be dealt with through proper awareness only. 

The key intent behind holding the discussion was to hear grievances of communities residing in the hill areas of the state, their grievances in the aftermath of spread of COVID-19, and formulate a strategy to impart the right awareness at the grassroots level, the source said. 

CMO quoted the chief minister expressing strong concern that the state may face different difficulties due to the pandemic if effective steps are not taken up on time.

Singh urged the public to ignore rumours and trust only advisories and guidelines issued by credible agencies like WHO, ICMR, Union health ministry, home ministry etc. 

He said that as per the advisories of these organisations, persons who have completed 14 days of institutional quarantine or the persons whose test result come out negative may return home. 

As such, people should never hesitate to allow them to enter their localities, the CMO quoted.

The chief minister expressed that he was confident that all the infected persons would be cured because the doctors, nurses and paramedical manpower of the state are capable, and they have been working day and night with full dedication to accomplish it. 

He also said that the state would overcome the crisis with the support and cooperation from the people.

The leaders expressed their profound gratitude to the chief minister for hosting such a fruitful discussion session and hearing the grievances of  people residing in different hill districts at the time of hardship due to COVID- 19 pandemic and nation-wide lockdown.