14 suspected coronavirus patients want govt to get them tested

PESHAWAR: Following the death of a coronavirus patient identified as Shakir Khan, the district administration in Mardan sealed Mohalla Amukhel in Mayar village to which he belonged but his 14 neighbours who are suspected patients are still waiting for the promised tests.

The police officials guarding the sealed area are not allowing residents to move in or out of the locality. This has caused difficulties for the people, more so for the 14 suspected coronavirus patients who claimed an official registered their names, address and telephone numbers in a register without taking any sample from them to conduct the required tests. The residents said on the one hand the government was demonstrating seriousness to fight coronavirus but on the other it left the suspected patients in the lurch.

Jehanzeb Khan, a former chairman of Mayar Union Council and local leader of Awami National Party (ANP), said that it was deplorable to note that they had been contacting the authorities concerned on the official phone numbers but they were kept waiting without getting a response. All the suspected persons, their families, relatives and neighbours are passing through mental agony.“As no one has conducted any test so how the suspects will know whether they are positive or negative,” said Jehanzeb Khan. He added that these were all poor people but would have to go to private laboratory if the government didn’t conduct their tests

The suspected patents include Rashid, son Karbat Shah, Abdul Mohammad, son of Gul Mohammad, Hizbullah, son of Ihsanullah, Sajjad, son of Saifur Rahman, Ahmad, son of Fayyaz, Nasir, son of Fazal Mabud, Qayyum Khan, son of Fazlur Rahman, Azharul Haq, son of Zahoorul Haq, Zuhaib, son of Zakirullah, Babar, son of Azharul Haq, Mehad Ali, son of Payo Din, Fazal Akbar, son of Ghani Akbar, Abdul Jalal, son of Fazal Rahman and Niaz Ali, son of Liaquat Ali. They asked the government to conduct their tests or allow them to get themselves tested by paying for the tests at the private laboratories.

Jehanzeb Khan said instead of sealing the entire locality, the authorities should lockdown the houses of the suspected persons so that the rest of people could continue their routine life because the poor dwellers would have to do some work to feed their families. An official said that Dr Noor Ahmad, Medical Officer at the local hospital in Toru and his team had conducted tests and interviews of all the suspected persons and shifted them to the quarantine centre at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan.

He said the administration, doctors, Ulema and people would jointly fight the coronavirus as the government alone could not defeat it. Shakir Khan, an employee of the District Headquarters Hospital in Mardan, recently died of coronavirus and his mother, wife and two children also tested positive for Covid-19.

This created fear among the otherwise unconcerned population of the area as it was observed that the villagers were now following government’s instructions, including maintaining social distancing, to contain the coronavirus.