LUCKNOW: A major slack of the health authorities came to fore in Mau district on Tuesday where 27 COVID-19 positive patients were kept in quarantine with suspected cases in railway coaches at a local railway station.
While Mau has been the first district to utilize the railway coaches as an institutional quarantine facility, the coaches can be used to house mild cases that can be clinically assigned to the COVID care centres as per the health protocol.
As per sources in the district administration, an explanation was sought from the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) besides a panel being set up to probe the matter.
While talking to the press, Mau DM Gyan Prakash Tripathi claimed that the issue came to his knowledge on Monday following which all 27 COVID-19 patients were shifted from the railway coaches to COVID hospitals in the district and an explanation was sought from officials concerned.
Sources said that the incident came to light when those suspected cases quarantined in the 96 coaches released a video which confirmed positive patients being housed in the same coaches and collecting water from the same facility.
Then it was revealed that the district health officials had been accommodating the confirmed positive cases in coaches since July 3. The incident sent the district officials into tizzy.
When asked by the DM, district health officials reportedly claimed that the L1 facility to admit COVID-19
positive cases had reached its full capacity and hence, fresh cases were sent to railway coaches. "It was the fault of health officials as the Pardaha L-1 facility was full and hence, the patients had to be sent to Kopaganj L-I facility," said the DM.
Dr Arjun Kumar Sharma, who is in-charge of COVID-19 rail coaches at Mau railway station, claimed that COVID-19 positive cases were being accommodated in the coaches for the last four days. On Monday night, 23 of them had been shifted to Kopaganj LI facility while two women were sent there on Tuesday morning. Two corona positive children were still in those coaches along with their parents.
Mau had become the first district of the country to start utilising COVID-19 coaches arranged by the Railways at Mau junction of Varanasi division of Norht Eastern Railways by accommodating 59 people for institutional quarantine in these coaches on June 20.