Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 11

Around 15 deaths in the past 10 days, but the residents of Mahendragarh’s Malhrabas village continue to live in denial mode, refusing to believe that Covid is on their doorstep.

Health infra crumbling

The cause of death in two out of eight cases in our village was confirmed as Covid. Testing leaves much to be desired. People are dying at home with no access to oxygen and other facilities. - Prem Singh, Sarpanch, Khudana village

Most families have a member or two suffering from sore throat or fever or both, but sarpanch Ramovtar Singh is having a hard time convincing them that 15 deaths were because of Covid.

“Villagers attribute the deaths to old age or some other problem, but Covid. Earlier, one or two elderly persons died in a couple of months. Now, there has been a sudden surge in deaths. What else could be the cause if not Covid?” he said.

The lone Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Malhrabas village is operating from a makeshift building. It has nothing to offer, but vaccines which are in short supply.

In Khudana village, eight deaths have been reported in the past one week. Of the 39 villagers who got tested recently, 25 were found positive for Covid. Sarpanch Prem Singh says almost every family in the village has Covid-like symptoms.

“The cause of death in two out of eight cases was confirmed as Covid. It is so because the testing facility leaves much to be desired. People are dying at home with no access to oxygen and other facilities,” he said. A mobile testing van visits Khudana village for a couple of hours after every few days. “It is insufficient considering the population of the village,” said Prem. In Bawaniya village as well, eight persons passed away in a week. Village resident Vijay Singh said, “Several children have flu-like symptoms. In the absence of testing facilities, we are at the God’s mercy.”

Deputy Commissioner Ajay Kumar said, “The number of deaths in the district has gone up from 37 to 75 in 11 days. The macro-containment zones have been doubled to 19. A list of villages with high number of patients and deaths has been drawn up. Auxiliary nurse midwives and health workers are enforcing home isolation.”