In rural Punjab, rumours fuel opposition to Covid testing and hospital admissions

BATHINDA/PATIALA: There is growing opposition to Covid-19 testing and admission of infected people in government hospitals and isolation centres in rural areas of Punjab and village panchayats in some parts of the state are passing resolutions against forcible testing and villagers being isolated in Covid care centres.
The health teams are battling misinformation spread rapidly on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. Mansa police registered a case on charges of spreading rumours about Covid-19 and health teams against Raman Singh (23) of Nangla village in Bathinda. He has been accused of spreading rumours on WhatsApp.
Mansa SSP Surendra Lamba said in a message forwarded by the accused, it was said that the organs of Covid patients were being sold. The message also claimed that health workers had been given targets of finding at least two infected people in each village. It also appealed to people to not get admitted in hospitals on the recommendations of health workers and to maintain a distance from 108 ambulances.
The mistrust has grown so much that the district health authorities are now filing police complaints against the village panchayats which have passed these resolutions.
A host of panchayats in Punjab’s Malwa region, especially Moga, Muktsar, Patiala, Sangrur, Bathinda and Mansa districts, have passed resolutions. In the Majha region too, there have been a few instances of similar panchayat resolutions. Batala police registered a case against a person for stopping health workers from performing Covid-19 tests in Hargobindpur, SSP Rachpal Singh said, adding that some people had been spreading canard on social media about organ trade.
However, barring one instance in Nawanshahr no instances of panchayats passing resolutions against Covid testing or hospitalisation of residents have emerged in the Doaba region. No FIR has been registered. “We filed a complaint with the police against Ageta village panchayat for passing a resolution against the police and health teams and then making the resolution go viral. Such acts are demoralising our health teams that have been fighting against the pandemic,” said Patiala epidemiologist Dr Sumit.
The resolution was passed by the panchayats of Ageta , Dhanauri, Dhanaura and a few other villages of Patiala district. “Health teams will not be allowed to take samples of our villagers without our consent as rumours of fake positive results have scared people. We have been holding camps for sampling in the past and we would cooperate, but they will have to conduct samplings in our presence only,” Darshan Singh, sarpanch of Dhanauri, said.
The scare of the health teams has grown so much that villagers in some cases are even attacking them to prevent them from carrying out their work. Two policemen were seriously injured on Sunday night in Khang village of Patiala district after police and health teams were attacked by villagers when they were trying to take a pregnant woman, who is Covid positive, to hospital.
Patran station SHO Darbara Singh said, “We got a call for help on Sunday night as residents of Khang village were not allowing them to take the pregnant woman who tested positive for Covid-19 before her delivery, which was expected by September 4. ” Over 40 persons, including 32 unidentified accused, were on Monday booked on various charges, including attempt to murder and the Disaster Management Act.