29 May,2021 05:10 AM IST | Mumbai | Vinod Kumar Menon
Officials say they have accepted requests of housing societies and NGOs for Covid-19 centres for asymptomatic patients with no comorbidities. Representation pic
The Panvel civic body's decision to send all Covid-19 positive people, including asymptomatic ones, to quarantine centres has created a flutter among residents of Kharghar and neighbouring areas. Citizens say it is unfair to force asymptomatic people to stay in institutional quarantine when they have space at home for self-isolation.
Sanjay Shinde, deputy municipal commissioner, said they are acting as per state government instructions issued recently for 18 districts including Raigad of which Panvel Municipal Corporation is a part of. "Of the 118 Covid-19 positive people on Friday, 36 were sent to quarantine centres as they live in flats that do not have separate rooms with attached toilet facilities nor were they under treatment of any doctor. Such patients will need to be sent to quarantine centres."
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"We have made arrangements to keep around 4,000 people in quarantine [two in one flat] at India Bulls Centre in Panvel where mild or asymptomatic patients will be kept under observation for 14 days," said Shinde. Patients requiring hospital care will be sent to the 200-bed Panvel district hospital or MGM Kalamboli with 200 bed ICU or the Urban health centre at Kalamboli with 72 oxygen beds.
Shinde said they have also accepted the requests of housing societies and NGOs to set up Covid-19 care facilities for asymptomatic patients with no comorbidity on gated premises using their own resources. "Patients have an option to select any one - institutional quarantine, CCF (Covid care facilities) run within clubhouse or empty flats, by RWA [housing societies], or get admitted to any hospital till they test negative," said Shinde, adding that they will take police assistance if required to implement the directive.
Dr P. Sekhar, Chairman Unleashing India, Global Smart City Panel, MTGF, and also a Kharghar resident, said, "Panvel being an upcoming city has to be taken forward properly in its approach to Covid-19 and its aftermath. Needless to say, the authorities are insisting quarantine for asymptomatic patients instead of home quarantine would put a great stress on the system and the residents, and the administration need to reconsider and amend their directives. In long run, public governance is successful only by walking the talk of public, private and administrative participation in decision-making."
Mangal Kamble, founder President of Swachh Kharghar Foundation, said, "There is nothing better than getting cured in the comfort of one's home in isolation unless one has severe symptoms. Also, such a move may encourage mild symptom patients to hide the fact about themselves and not go for testing as compared to now where they get tested and are staying isolated." She added, "BMC commissioner has taken a different stand and said it is not mandatory, and it should be compulsory only for families who don't have enough space to isolate separately." Kamble has written to the authorities requesting them to reconsider the move.
Officials said since Mumbai is not a red zone, the BMC doesn't need to send all asymptomatic patients to institutional quarantine.
A senior health official said many asymptomatic patients flouted home isolation norms despite knowing their Covid-19 status and infected many more. "Also, those home-quarantined with comorbid conditions were ignoring hospitalisation until the last moment. By the time they managed to get a bed, it was too late and this led to more deaths in the second wave."
"We hope that this move does not deter patients with mild symptoms from testing themselves, missing out on the opportunity for isolating them." said Dr Ameya Panchewagh, a consultant anaesthesiologist and a Kharghar resident.
Dr Pankaj Titar, who lives in Kharghar Sector 35, said, "The plan will succeed if good food, WiFi and mobile network, and clean washrooms are available to people kept under institutional isolation."
Raigad Collector Nidhi Choudhary said, "At this moment, we have not received any written directives from the government insisting on mandatory institutional quarantining of asymptomatic or mild Covid-19 cases. However, if people are found flouting the home quarantine guidelines, it won't be too late before such directives become the rule of the day." She appealed for public cooperation. "And to the best of our efforts in Raigad district, we have by and large been able to keep the situation better."
Dr Santosh Bansode, Head of Emergency Medicine at Wockhardt hospital, Mumbai Central, said patients with mild or no symptoms living in smaller homes can be sent to quarantine centres. "If they have facilities at home and if we move them to a quarantine centre, they won't be happy as it will be against their wish and and happiness is an important factor for speedy recovery of any patient." He said the government can ask societies to keep an eye on the movement of home-quarantined patients.
Advocate Dinesh Tiwari, a senior criminal lawyer, said, "As per the existing norms, neither the state nor the Centre can come out with such directives of putting any asymptomatic cases in compulsory institutional quarantine. The municipal corporation nor the administration has the power to supersede the constitutional fundamental right of a citizen." He said any action going against the Constitution cannot be legally enforceable. "It is the ignorance of the common man in understanding law and lack of initiative to challenge such notifications, in court, that the common man continues to suffer," added Tiwari.
