By KNO on 31/03/2020.

Frontline warriors not provided PPE, alleges family

Jammu, Mar 31: A day after a microbiologist from Jammu region was tested positive, the authorities have shifted five of his family members to quarantine centre.

According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Dr. Sikander Chirag, a Microbiologist, who is posted in Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu in its microbiology department was tested positive yesterday. However, the family members have expressed anguish over the poor protection available for frontline workers.

Official sources said that the positive case was part of a team for collection samples in between March 13 to March 19.

The family members of doctor told—KNO that no Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kit was made available to doctors including their beloved and other frontline workers who were at high risk.

“On Saturday evening (March 28), he developed symptoms of Coronavirus and immediately went into isolation at home and on Sunday, he was shifted to hospital where samples were collected and at 03:30 AM on Monday wee morning hours, the information of samples found positive was shared with us,” family members said.

They added that since then Dr. Chirag is in isolation at hospital while his family members including his father, a retired police officer, his mother, wife who is a dentist and one domestic helper have been shifted to a quarantine facility in Jammu while one of the Personal Security Officer (PSO) of his father has been isolated in his native area Samba.

The family members further said that since Monday morning, the family members and domestic helper of microbiologist are in quarantine but the callous approach of the authorities can be gauged from the fact that the samples of family members have not been taken.

“His mother, aged 67 suffer from diabetes as well as heart problem and necessary medical aid has not been provided to her by the authorities,” the family members said.

“Unfortunately, on one hand microbiologist Dr. Sikander Chirag got exposed to virus due to unavailability of PPE kit and now some quarters in government setup are sharing statement that he attended religious congregations and got infected there which is not true,” said family members.

They added that doctor didn’t attend even a single religious congregation and some seniors in setup are giving a wrong narrative to the entire situation to hide poor protection facilities made available to the frontline workers.

“On one hand, samples of his family members kept in quarantine in Jammu have not been taken citing asymptomatic nature but samples of police personnel deputed with his father have been taken in Samba,” said family members who also appealed Lieutenant Governor administration to conduct a high level probe into the matter