Though the district administration has been encouraging Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) to set up their own isolation centres in the fight against COVID-19 in the Millennium City, the groups face a host of challenges. Expenses for setting up these centres, difficulty in arranging doctors and paramedical staff, power cuts, responsibility in case of mishaps and disposal of medical waste, are a few to mention.
Bajrang Jain, a resident of Godrej Summit group housing society in Sector 104, said a four-bedded isolation centre had been set up inside their society, but residents have mixed opinions. Mr. Jain added that the government should come forward to help the RWAs in setting up these centres since they could not bear all the responsibilities alone.
Expenses to bear
“We have an oxygen cylinder for the pool in the society. We have kept that for the isolation centre. But there is no clarity as to who would provide us another cylinder after this exhausts. Expenses on infrastructure and doctors and paramedics is the main concern. The cost could run into thousands or even more,” said Mr. Jain. He added that four beds had been arranged free of cost from a charitable trust, but there was no clarity on the expenses ahead such as electricity, food and staff.
He also questioned as to who would be held responsible in case of any mishap, demanding that the administration must take responsibility for providing emergency services. He added that there were no alternative arrangements for power supply in case of outages in some societies.
Fear of infection
A resident of Ramprastha City said disposal of bio-medical waste and recreation of patients also remained some of the challenges. “A patient inside his house can watch television or interact with the family members from a distance. But this is not possible at the isolation. Proper disposal of waste is also important,” said the resident. In some group housing societies, the residents are also opposing the setting up of isolation centres, fearing the spread of infection.
Sudhir Garg of India Bulls Centrum Park favoured setting up isolation centres, saying residents must share the cost among themselves.
Municipal Corporation of Gurugram Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh, on Friday claimed that only around a dozen associations had set up isolation centres so far.