People will refrain from COVID-19 testing due to compulsory institutional quarantine: Atishi
Jun 20, 2020
New Delhi [India], June 20 : AAP leader Atishi on Saturday hit out at Delhi Lieutenant General (LG) Anil Baijal for making 5-day institutional quarantine compulsory for COVID-19 patients in the national capital.
Citing her own example, the AAP leader said that she is recovering from the infection while living in her house and the implementation of this decision would lead to people refraining from getting themselves tested for coronavirus. This is unnecessarily increasing the stress on healthcare workers and facilities.
"Centre's decision of stopping home isolation and making 5-day institutional quarantine compulsory for COVID-19 patients in Delhi is wrong. I am a corona patient and recovering at home with my family. I have full confidence that due to this 5-day institutional quarantine, many people will now refrain from getting tested as they would believe they would be sent to railway coaches," the AAP MLA said.
"They will then go on spreading corona at their offices, homes, in markets. This decision will lead to a spread of the disease," she added.
Speaking about the increased stress on healthcare workers, she added, "Delhi or any other city or state has a limited number of healthcare workers. We need to ensure that they take care of serious and severe patients in hospitals and ICUs rather than focusing on mild and asymptomatic patients who can recover at their home."
"Therefore, the Centre should take back its decision. The Delhi government is against it and so are the people of Delhi. It has caused havoc in the national capital," she added.
Earlier today, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said that no consensus could be arrived at in the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) meeting, either on reducing the rates of beds in private hospitals or on the compulsory five-day institutional quarantine for all COVID-19 patients, ordered by Lieutenant General Anil Baijal. He said a second meeting has been scheduled for 5 pm today.
Sisodia, who has also been entrusted with an additional charge of Health Minister in the Delhi government, estimated that if home isolation is stopped and everybody is sent to quarantine centres then by June 30 there will be a requirement for one lakh beds in the national capital.
AAP MLA Raghav Chadha had also shared the same apprehension over the five-day institutional quarantine order issued by Baijal and said that it has led to many people saying they will not get tested fearing they might be whisked away to quarantine centres.
