Housing societies can set up quarantine centres: Thane municipal corporation

MUMBAI: Gated housing complexes can set up temporary quarantine centres in their club houses or community halls and take responsibility of residents with mild coronavirus symptoms, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) stated in an order on Tuesday. This initiative, the TMC said, will ensure that more hospitals beds are available for critical Covid-19 patients.
The order also puts the onus on the society to arrange for the conservancy staff oxygen cylinders and medication for the patients. “Mild symptomatic patients from gated complexes will be allowed to recover within their complexes. The societies will have to make necessary arrangements for isolation of these residents and also procure the equipment. In addition, the residents will be allowed access to home food and any medical staff staying in the society will be entrusted with regular follow-up of the patients there,” said Thane municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal.
The TMC order has not gone down well with activists and corporators. “How can residents be made to arrange for medical treatment of patients? Also, having patients within the complexes is likely to increase the risk of infections. The civic body is already taxing us heavily and with this imposition, it will financially strain several societies ... It may not be feasible for such facilities,” said the chairman of a society federation.