Constables turn health assistants in Vellore

COVID-19 on the rise among police personnel, with many having reported mild symptoms earlier this month

Young constable B. Ramki, 28, seldom forgets to take two things — a thermoscanner and a log book — before he leaves his house in Karukaputhoor village, near Vellore.

He rides a moped to the police housing quarters near Circuit House, a posh neighbourhood in the town. The quarters is his workplace. His job is to take the temperature and other health details of the occupants before putting them down in his log book, twice a day. Mr. Ramki is among 17 policemen, mostly constables, who have been on the job since Monday to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among police personnel and their families. The infection is also on the rise among police personnel, with many having reported mild symptoms earlier this month.

In fact, many personnel in the Sathuvachari, North Vellore town, Pallikonda, South Vellore town, Gudiyatham town police stations have reported mild symptoms over the past few days. This has necessitated such an initiative. “With this, we monitor the health status of our police personnel and their families on a daily basis. The feedback helps us to attend to any health emergencies to our personnel,” S. Rajesh Kannan, SP (Vellore), told The Hindu. Divided into teams of four, the policemen take care of at least 60 families in the housing quarters. Each housing quarters, on an average, has at least four blocks with more than 100 housing units each. Most of these quarters are alloted to constables and sub-inspectors of various wings, including the Armed Reserve, law and order, traffic and crime. More than 1,200 families stay in the quarters, which are spread across the district in Gudiyatham, Katpadi, Pallikonda, Vellore Old Town, K.V. Kuppam and Tiruvalam.