HOWRAH: A 26-year-old nurse, who is scheduled to join duty at a quarantine centre in Howrah from Tuesday, was stopped from entering her parental home on IIEST campus in Shibpur on Monday and made to stand for hours outside the gate under the sun. After Susmita Hansda broke down and pleaded for entry with the security staff, she was allowed to enter with a warning that she should not try to leave the campus to report to duty till the lockdown is over.
Hansda is a nurse from the state health services and is posted in Kandi in Murshidabad. Her father is a peon at the IIEST and lives on the campus. Hansda had come home before the lockdown and is unable to go back to her place of work. Hence, she has been given alternative posting under the chief medical officer of health, Howrah, which is nearest to her place of residence now. The CMOH office has grouped her with nurses who would be working at the Balitikuri quarantine centre that has just been opened to cope with the growing crisis in the district.
Hansda will have to report to duty on Tuesday at Balitikuri at the appointed time but if she ventures out of the IIEST campus, she will not be allowed to enter, the institute authorities have warned. On May 2, she had applied to the director of IIEST, seeking special permission to allow her to enter and leave campus because she was on emergency duty. She is yet to get any reply to that letter.
Hansda had gone to the CMOH office on Monday to get an idea about her duty at the quarantine centre. After being allowed to enter home, Hansda immediately wrote to CMOH, Bhabani Das, that she was being stopped by the IIEST authorities to leave the campus from joining her duties.
“After returning from the CMOH office on Monday, I stood under the scorching heat like a student who has been punished. Even my father came and pleaded with the authorities, saying that I had just gone to the CMOH office and not to the quarantine center. Finally, when they saw that I had started crying, they let me in with a warning. The security staff said that they have been ordered not to allow me go out on Tuesday. I will lose my job…” Hansda said. Her father has also sent a written appeal to the IIEST director.
A senior member of the IIEST administration said that strict entry and exit rules have been imposed on campus in the wake of the Covid crisis and this is applicable for everyone on campus. “If the nurse is too keen to join work, she will have to stay outside because we cannot take the risk of letting her enter and exit campus knowing that she is coming from a quarantine centre. Let her employer find a place for her to stay,” the official said.
Bhabani Das said: “No one can stop a health worker from joining work. Every health worker is priceless. We will arrange for alternative accommodation for her when she reports to duty on Tuesday,” she promised.
Hansda is a nurse from the state health services and is posted in Kandi in Murshidabad. Her father is a peon at the IIEST and lives on the campus. Hansda had come home before the lockdown and is unable to go back to her place of work. Hence, she has been given alternative posting under the chief medical officer of health, Howrah, which is nearest to her place of residence now. The CMOH office has grouped her with nurses who would be working at the Balitikuri quarantine centre that has just been opened to cope with the growing crisis in the district.
Hansda will have to report to duty on Tuesday at Balitikuri at the appointed time but if she ventures out of the IIEST campus, she will not be allowed to enter, the institute authorities have warned. On May 2, she had applied to the director of IIEST, seeking special permission to allow her to enter and leave campus because she was on emergency duty. She is yet to get any reply to that letter.
Hansda had gone to the CMOH office on Monday to get an idea about her duty at the quarantine centre. After being allowed to enter home, Hansda immediately wrote to CMOH, Bhabani Das, that she was being stopped by the IIEST authorities to leave the campus from joining her duties.
“After returning from the CMOH office on Monday, I stood under the scorching heat like a student who has been punished. Even my father came and pleaded with the authorities, saying that I had just gone to the CMOH office and not to the quarantine center. Finally, when they saw that I had started crying, they let me in with a warning. The security staff said that they have been ordered not to allow me go out on Tuesday. I will lose my job…” Hansda said. Her father has also sent a written appeal to the IIEST director.
A senior member of the IIEST administration said that strict entry and exit rules have been imposed on campus in the wake of the Covid crisis and this is applicable for everyone on campus. “If the nurse is too keen to join work, she will have to stay outside because we cannot take the risk of letting her enter and exit campus knowing that she is coming from a quarantine centre. Let her employer find a place for her to stay,” the official said.
Bhabani Das said: “No one can stop a health worker from joining work. Every health worker is priceless. We will arrange for alternative accommodation for her when she reports to duty on Tuesday,” she promised.
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