Mubashir Bukhari
Srinagar (NVI): Many people under watch for coronavirus in Kashmir continue to play hide and seek with authorities, with the latest such incident being 26 quarantined persons fleeing from Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Hospital (JLNM) in Srinagar today.
They were later traced with the help of police and re-admitted.
According to the hospital authorities, 14 female and 12 male patients from Srinagar were placed under quarantine in the hospital after their close relative was tested positive for coronavirus yesterday.
However, they claimed that facilities in the hospital were not appropriate and created ruckus this morning. “They broke the doors and windows and fled from the hospital,” an official said.
All these people are family members and close relatives of a positive case of Chattabal area of Srinagar.
When contacted by NVI, Zakir Ahmed, Medical Superintendent of JLNM hospital, refused to speak on the matter, saying he was busy and would talk later.
Earlier, on March 25, a girl, who had returned from Hungary, fled Chest Diseases Hospital (CDH) in Srinagar and the authorities had to make efforts to trace her.
“Tracked. Admitted again. Legal action to follow,” tweeted Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar Dr Shahid Choudhary on that day about the girl.
“The girl was suffering from fever and flu and samples were collected and sent to laboratory. But without informing anyone, she fled from the hospital,” officials said.
Last week, a youth was detained by police after he ran away from the same hospital.
On March 24, Choudhary said that around 100 people with travel history have been traced and put into quarantine.
“Team lead by colleague Mr Masarat Hashim KAS and involving brilliant professionals tracked more than 65 people who returned from affected countries skipping screening & changing routes. Amazing job. Srinagar thankful to all for inputs,” he tweeted a day earlier.
“Medical, IT & Surveillance teams today were able to track 29 people coming from Bangkok, UK, Dubai, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan etc who skipped medical teams by changing routes or avoiding travel history…,” the DC said in another tweet on that day.
The authorities also traced a Kashmiri man who came from Italy, landed in New Delhi, travelled to Jammu by train and took a cab from there to reach his home in Srinagar.
A Kashmiri, who came from Bangladesh but dodged medical screening in New Delhi, was also traced after he reached his home in Srinagar, thanks to the tip-off provided by his neighbours, officials said.
Exasperated over people hiding their travel history and trying to dodge testing or quarantine, the Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Srinagar in one of the tweets, said, “Flood of messages about travelers who concealed travel history; and about contacts. I wish such people acted responsibly. Those appeals weren’t without reason. Control room & teams having tough time.”
Till now, 27 people have been tested positive for COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the officials.
