Overnight shifting of patients in Minicoy draws flak
The Hindu
12-hour hunger strike across the islands on June 7
The islanders of Minicoy in Lakshadweep allege vendetta on the part of the Union Territory administration in hurriedly shifting scores of COVID-19 patients to a first-line treatment centre (FLTC) without prior notice in the dead of the night on Wednesday. “The COVID testing system on the islands is essentially in total disarray as results of RT-PCR take up to a week to arrive. This is because only Kavaratti has a testing facility. When the results of RT-PCR of several people arrive, some who had tested negative in antigen tests also received positive results, leading to a lot of confusion. However, it was decided that since a few days had lapsed after the collection of samples, it was thought best to ask those tested positive to continue to stay at home. But in the night, officials, the Deputy Collector and incident commander specifically, said the District Collector had ordered an immediate shifting of the fresh batch of patients to the treatment facility. This was in bad taste, but the officials were helpless as they had to comply with the order that came late,” Muneer Manikfan, a medical doctor and vice president of the Dweep panchayat at Minicoy, told The Hindu.More Related News