‘Missing’ Covid patients add to BMC’s troubles
Most ‘untraceable’ patients got tested through private labs, says BMC (PHOTO FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSE ONLY)
About a hundred Covid positive patients are untraceable at any given time due to incorrect addresses and phone numbers either due to patients’ fear or lab error
While the figure ofCovid-19 patients in Mumbai has crossed 21,000, authorities have another reason to worry – missing and untraceable patients. This usually happens when those getting tested do not give their correct address and phone numbers or the testing labs make some error while entering the details.
Additional commissionerSuresh Kakani told Mumbai Mirror that at any given time, there are more than 100 positive patients who are missing or untraceable. “This happens because of several reasons, the prime one being wrong details of patients entered. We have other ways of tracking such persons. We search the property card records or even look at the voters list to track such people. On Monday, I was taking a review of Bandra East area and found that companies had gotten their employees tested and given their address as Bandra East and it became difficult to track individual persons.” BMC officers have also asked for details of such missing people from Unique Identification Authority of India (Aadhaar), but they are yet to get access.
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Joint Commissioner B R Marathe of Chembur, Kurla, Mankhurd area said, “There is a fear in minds of certain people about Covid-19 and this prompts them to give wrong addresses and phone numbers. Those who get tested in private laboratories are informed about the results by 3 pm. This list is sent to the civic head office by night and it comes to ward level by the next morning. At times, it gives time to people who want to run away or escape hospitalisation due to fear.”
When such positive patients go missing and move around in the city, they pose more danger to society. In some cases, the BMC has used CCTV footages of laboratories to track down untraceable persons.
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In N ward, there are 12 cases of missing Covid-19 patients from Vikhroli and the authorities are doing their best to track them down. In Andheri East, there are 27 cases of missing Covid-19 cases, says assistant commissionerPrashant Sapkale . Most of these cases are in slums.
Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, G-North Ward said that there were 29 untraceable persons inDharavi . “We have managed to trace some of them. They might be those who tested at private labs and wrote down wrong addresses and phone numbers,” Dighavkar said.
Officers from S ward in Bhandup are looking for 31 such missing persons, said Dr S Mohokar, medical officer of S Ward. An officer from L ward, which comprises of Kurla and other areas, said that sometimes it could be a technical error like writing a wrong mobile number. However, if they are contacts of positive patients, they can be traced back through the original patient.
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BMC officials said that most of the ‘untraceable’ persons were those who had got tested in private labs.
“Sometimes we find them later and at other times they turn up in BMC isolation facilities on their own. These people are irresponsible and are putting other and their own family members and neighbours at risk,” an official said.
While the figure of
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Joint Commissioner B R Marathe of Chembur, Kurla, Mankhurd area said, “There is a fear in minds of certain people about Covid-19 and this prompts them to give wrong addresses and phone numbers. Those who get tested in private laboratories are informed about the results by 3 pm. This list is sent to the civic head office by night and it comes to ward level by the next morning. At times, it gives time to people who want to run away or escape hospitalisation due to fear.”
When such positive patients go missing and move around in the city, they pose more danger to society. In some cases, the BMC has used CCTV footages of laboratories to track down untraceable persons.
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In N ward, there are 12 cases of missing Covid-19 patients from Vikhroli and the authorities are doing their best to track them down. In Andheri East, there are 27 cases of missing Covid-19 cases, says assistant commissioner
Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, G-North Ward said that there were 29 untraceable persons in
Officers from S ward in Bhandup are looking for 31 such missing persons, said Dr S Mohokar, medical officer of S Ward. An officer from L ward, which comprises of Kurla and other areas, said that sometimes it could be a technical error like writing a wrong mobile number. However, if they are contacts of positive patients, they can be traced back through the original patient.
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BMC officials said that most of the ‘untraceable’ persons were those who had got tested in private labs.
“Sometimes we find them later and at other times they turn up in BMC isolation facilities on their own. These people are irresponsible and are putting other and their own family members and neighbours at risk,” an official said.
