A government school teacher in Arunachal Pradesh has set up a temporary ‘screening centre’ on the border with Assam for returnees to his State. This followed a month after Manipur Assembly Speaker Yumnam Khemchand established a “different” quarantine centre for returnees in his constituency Singjamei without government support.
John Panyang, who teaches at Ruksin in East Siang district, used transparent polythene and bamboo for the screening centre he set up at the entry point of Ngorlung-Ralung village near the inter-State boundary. District Health officials said he was allowed to operate the screening centre as he had basic training in methods used by government doctors.
“I purchased thermal scanner machines, masks, hand gloves and alcoholic sanitisers to render the service, which I felt was my duty toward our own people who risked health hazards to reach home,” Mr .Panyang said.
He has screened more than 300 people since setting up the screening centre on Monday. Three of them had fever but later tested negative for COVID-19.
Laudable initiative
East Siang district Deputy Commissioner Kinny Singh appreciated Mr. Panyang’s voluntary service to the villagers. “The initiative is laudable for a teacher who could have been at home since schools are shut due to the pandemic-related restrictions,” she said from district headquarters Pasighat.
In Manipur, returnees who spent their mandatory quarantine period at the Singjamei facility set up by Mr. Khemchand said they could not have come to a better place. One of them, declining to be quoted, said the centre allowed the inmates to play badminton and practice yoga besides organising small weekly concerts by local musicians.