GHMC and health department in discord upon containment zones in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The setting up of containment zones in the city has become a bone of contention between the civic authorities and the health department.

It has been learnt that the health department was asked to submit a list of all Covid-19 positive patients in the city, based on which the GHMC and the district authorities decided the containment zones.

While sources say that the health department is fully in agreement with the civic body in setting up of the zones, what is surprising is that in some areas, the zones were set up without taking into account the ground reality – the absence of any current positive cases or even suspects in such areas.

Sources say that, for instance, in one particular zone in Jubilee Hills, a patient living there was discharged from hospital 25 days ago and had subsequently quarantined himself as per instructions in a guest house on the city’s outskirts because he did not want to be a possible cause for discomfort or trouble in his own locality.

The man is still staying in the same guest house. But now, every day, a doctor and nurse have to go around the locality in which he lived and visit the house he no longer lives in, to inquire about his health and survey the rest of the homes in the locality.

Meanwhile, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, which on Friday announced 12 containment clusters, and increased it to 123 on Saturday, raised this number to 126 on Sunday.

In a press release on Sunday, the corporation said that through its control room, it collected basic information on the 126 containment clusters. The corporation even said that it has been collecting data from zonal commissioners and monitoring the zones through maps provided by them.

‘The control room received 68 calls today out of which 10 calls are pertaining to suspected Corona cases, two calls for ambulance, 33 for ration. Food has been provided to 470 persons through mobile Annapurna vehicles on the basis of 25 calls. Calls for food were also received from nine containment areas and the information forwarded to Annapurna mobile teams. As many as 30 vehicles were provided to local vendors for supplying essential commodities and vegetables,’ the press release said.