By TCN News
Hyderabad: COVID19 Advocacy Lockdown Collective based in Telangana has issued a press statement to the State Minister for Health discussing the immense fear, confusion and crisis in the lives of quarantine suspects and their families that has “compounded by the singling out, and the discriminatory media profiling of Tablighi Jamaat members returning from the Markaz event in Nizamuddin.”
In the light of fake news being peddled in the aftermath of the Jamaat controversy, the Collective has urged the state government to “urgently put together quarantine protocols and give them wide publicity in all the languages via different television and social media.” The group has expressed that the list of problems faced by general public due to lack of clear and regular communication from the government has furthered the panic among citizens who are unintentionally feeding in to the communal propaganda professed through targeting the Jamaat and the Muslim community for spreading the coronavirus.
The group, consisting of distinguished members including doctors, social activists and lawyers, has urged the government to “update public notices informing public about the latest quarantine and isolation protocols” as they have noticed that people are in extreme fear when hearing that isolation periods have been extended for those who were tested without symptoms.
The Collective, in its response to a lack of healthcare workforce, has suggested the government tp build a support structure of volunteer force in order to “maintain constant communication with suspect cases to allay their fears and address mental distress of others.”
Throwing light on the voluntary charity work by individuals and organizations, the advocacy group has requested people to attend to “special needs populations such as milk for babies, fruits for pregnant women and medicines for older people.” Extending similar concerns to quarantine suspects, the group advised the government should provide transport for people discharged from hospitals. “Being dropped at home by the health authorities will remove the suspicion and stigma attached to their removal from their locality,” the group states.
Addressing the constant violence against health workers and victims, the Collective has been vocal in explaining that “those who have recovered from COVID-19 should be projected as saviors of the community as they can donate their blood and plasma for treatment of others battling this disease.” It has advised the government to do more in promoting coronavirus as a “community health emergency” that requires community participation at the utmost level. In its end note, the note suggests that after the mandated quarantine period (as per the latest guidelines) of individuals are over, “they could also help serve as volunteers to help those who have been infected,” asserting that “COVID19 is a massive health care crisis and should not be converted into a law.”