Spat with GP worker prompts ASHA worker to attempt suicide

TNN | Apr 24, 2020, 04:57 IST

Mandya: An ASHA worker in a Mandya village attempted suicide after she was allegedly humiliated by a local gram panchayat worker, whom she had disclosed as someone who could be a potential Covid-19 patient.
Mandya police said that, after a patient tested positive for Covid-19 at a nursing home in Mysuru, the authorities started to trace those who had been in primary contact with the said patient. The health department authorities were keen on ensuring that all those who visited the hospital around the time the infected patient was housed at the institution were quarantined.
Avinash, the gram panchayat worker at the centre of the controversy, reportedly told Minakshi, an ASHA worker in Uruli Kyatanahalli in Srirangapatna taluk in Mandya, that a resident of the village had been to the hospital in Mysuru, where a Covid-19 patient had been housed. Minakshi subsequently informed the authorities about the development, following which the resident was quarantined. None too pleased with being quarantined, the man sought to know who had provided Minakshi the information. She informed the resident that it was Avinash who had entrusted her with the information.
Avinash was evidently not very pleased with what he perceived as Minakshi’s indiscretion, and allegedly insulted her publicly. Deeply upset with the incident, Minakshi attempted suicide. She is currently being treated at a hospital in Mandya, and the doctors have confirmed that she is out of danger.
A case has been registered in connection with the incident at the Arakere police station