Monthly Archives: August 2018

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 2

Resident doctors and staff nurses of Government Rajindra Hospital here were exposed to the coronavirus for no fault of theirs. Consequently, resident doctors had to undergo self-isolation for precautionary measures.

In fact, 42-year-old corona suspected patient from Ludhiana, who died at the hospital later, was brought to the Emergency first before taking her to the isolation ward — breaching the COVID-19 protocol.http://

The staff at emergency, who were not supposed to wear protective gear, examined the patient clinically without proper kit, thereby exposed themselves to the virus.

As per the ICMR guidelines, all COVID-19 suspected patients have to be taken directly to the isolation ward — a special dedicated room for the positive patients. Due to the missing link in the chain of communication, resident doctors at the emergency ward at the hospital had already been exposed to the virus, said the experts.

Worryingly, the resident doctors, thereafter, treated many other patients at the emergency ward, therefore, those (patients) are also at risk of infection and should be traced, say the experts.

Though, hospital authorities claim that resident doctors on duty were wearing masks and gloves, experts said personal protective equipment (PPE) kit is necessary for treating suspected patients.

Until now, the emergency ward has not been sanitized. Though, as many as four resident doctors who were exposed to the COVID-19 patient have already self-isolated themselves.

Meanwhile, senior doctors at the hospital said they were scared to work under these circumstances where protocols were not strictly followed.

A doctor of the medicine department, said, “The entire ward and medical devices used on that day should have been sanitized. The negligence creates a sense of fear among doctors.”

Dr Paras Pandove, Medical Superintendent, said it was not negligence but lack of communication. He said that first it was a referred case, therefore, the authorities who referred the patients had to inform in advance; second, kin of the patient could have informed about the same.

He added, “We have already deployed a special doctor at the emergency ward, who will be equipped with the PPE kit, to check the patients so as to avoid such incidents. We are trying our best so that our doctors are not exposed to COVID-19.”

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 2

Former Hazoori Ragi of the Golden Temple Nirmal Singh Khalsa died of cardiac arrest around 4:30 am on Thursday.

According to the Amritsar Civil Surgeon, he had tested posted for coronavirus on Wednesday. It was the second positive case from the district and the “first corona death”.

Earlier, a coronavirus-positive patient from Hoshiarpur had died at Amritsar Government Medical College.

The 62-year-old ‘Gurbani’ exponent was awarded the Padma Shri in 2009.

Singh, who recently returned from abroad, was admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital after he complained of breathlessness and dizziness on March 30.

Meanwhile, police have sealed the area around Singh’s residence to check the spread of the infection.

With his base in the densely populated Sultanwind area, the development would add to the trouble of the administration.

He had come back from abroad in February and later attended many religious events, including accompanying Zakir Hussain, the tabla player, to Golden Temple on February 29.

This is a day after Zakir Hussain performed at a jam packed Patiala auditorium as part of the Patiala Heritage Festival on February 27, a day after which he visited Amritsar.

Details regarding his travel history and events are being ascertained by the authorities.

According to the officials, Singh held a large ‘sammelan’ (religious gathering) in Delhi and some other places after he returned from abroad.

His family members and others who came into his contact would be quarantined, said the health department officials.

eligion has often caused harm to the world and humanity as a whole, whether in the form of environmental damage by filing the Yamuna and Ganga with ‘religious waste’ or turning the densely populated and congested Nizamuddin Basti into a Covid-19 hot spot for the sake of an Islamic gathering.

Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic reformist group, had a large gathering of more than 3,000 people on 13 March in Nizamuddin with foreign nationals from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, and Malaysia, a hot spot the deadly virus. Infact, the Jamaat has also been held responsible for having spread the virus to half a dozen nations in its February gathering in Malaysia.

Now, people across India who had participated in the Islamic congregation, are testing positivefor Covid-19 from as far as Andaman and & Nicobar Islands, and 10 have already died, including the Jamaat’s Kashmir head. All of this happened because of an annual Islamic gathering.

I am not encouraging Islamophobia, it will always be a prejudice that needs vehement opposition but if this isn’t plain stupidity in the name of Allah, then what is?

Whether India had implemented strict travel restrictions by 13 March or not isn’t the question here, the point is why gather in such huge numbers, with ‘red’ travel history for the sake of preaching religion? People from the gathering continued living in the area even after 13 March. Their orthodox movement has exposed all of us at a greater risk of contamination, from Assam to Telangana to the Andamans. And we can’t justify it by saying that other religions had also kept their doors open for a long time. All doors should have been shut.

Also Read: Tablighi Jamaat congregation and how religion has been the ‘super spreader’ of coronavirus

Ignorance in Islam’s name

Unfortunately, even amid this global crisis, some people are trying to veil the Jamaat’s irresponsibility by bringing up a 13 March PTI report on government officials saying that the coronavirus is not a health emergency and hence the Sunni Muslim group didn’t violate any norms.

Here is a fact-check; Delhi government on 13 March prohibited any gatherings of more than 200 people under the Epidemic Diseases Act. Moreover, they also directed people coming from any Covid-19 affected country to self-isolate. Members of the Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin violated both these directions.

Some have also argued that the Janata curfew was imposed a week later on 22 March and not during the Jamaat’s celebrations, which is also completely ridiculous. The question here is of moral and social responsibility along with the Delhi government’s order, which prohibited religious gatherings of over 50 people from 16 March. Covid-19 had already created chaos in the world by 13 March and the Jamaat made its contribution to it, not once, but twice.

Some others are now comparing this gathering with the exodus of migrant workers in the national capital. What these people fail to understand is that those workers had to walk home together because there was no other option. No one chooses to walk hundreds of kilometres with their children and no food if they have another option. But what Tablighi Jamaat did was sheer negligence and idiocy.

This outdated and orthodox movement has committed a crime that has put several others at the risk of coronavirus infection. No one knows the whereabouts of those 3000 people and who they have contacted in the last 16 days. Sadly, all of this was done in the name of Islam.

Also Read: More than 2,100 foreigners linked to Tablighi Jamaat entered India since 1 January

Liberals are missing

Surprisingly, India’s ‘liberals’ including actors, journalists and authors are quiet on this. They have only tried to whitewash the Jamaat’s doing by pointing out the loopholes of the government and the administration. This entire fiasco, caused solely for the purpose of preaching Islam, does not seem to be a matter of concern for them. Ironically, if such irresponsibility was shown by some other religious group in the country, the same liberals would have ridiculed it, like they did for Yogi Adityanath’s Ayodhya celebrations.

We need to understand that speaking against a wrong committed by an orthodox religious group from a particular religious community doesn’t mean you’re stereotyping them. Of course, Muslims in India have always been discriminated and faced Islamophobia. However, this does not mean that you should not speak up against crimes committed by a group of orthodox people.

Not speaking up against this gross violation of human safety exposes your hollowness and your lack of balance. More so, it throws light on why there will never truly be an Indian liberal.

Also Read: What is Tablighi Jamaat? Organiser of Delhi event behind spike in India’s Covid-19 count

Speak against Jamaat, not ISIS

When ISIS attacked a Gurdwara in Kabul last week, there were some who said they were ashamed of the crimes of this terrorist organisation in the name of Islam. There were others who not only tried defending Islam in the wake of the Islamic state’s activities but also tried their best to establish the difference between ISIS and Islam.

The fact is ISIS is a global terrorist outfit that kills people, and rapes women. It has much less to do with Islam than it has to do with power. But Tablighi Jamaat should force us to think of our religious practices in every day life.

This congregation is probably the worst thing that these 3,000 Muslims could have ever inflicted on humanity in the name of preaching Islam. Ultimately, the brokers of Islam have added to this coronavirus mess.