Jaipur: The hastily announced national lockdown last week caused an exodus of migrants from various cities and towns as lakhs of migrant workers took the roads overnight in a panic, risking police action and death in the face of no earnings, to get home to their villages. Now, as they reach their states, the mandatory COVID-19 screening at states borders is aggravating the panic among workers and their families.
Many are afraid of being sent to isolation wards, away from their families.
In Rajasthan’s tribal belt of Dungarpur, about 1.5 lakh migrant workers have reportedly returned from Maharashtra and Gujarat over the past ten days. Medical staff from Dungarpur, deployed at the Rajasthan-Gujarat border in Ratanpur, have been tasked to ask the migrant workers to disclose their name, address, phone number, date of arrival, and if they have cough, cold, fever or headache – before they are permitted to enter their villages.
Screening in rural areas is mostly restricted to noting down contact details of the migrant workers. Photo: The Wire
Locals say many of the migrant workers are misinformed about COVID-19, and are trying to avoid the screening.“Many tribal people don’t have the right information about the coronavirus pandemic. They always handle coughs, colds and fevers on their own and that’s why they are apprehensive about disclosing such details to the doctors,” says Azad, the sarpanch at Biliya village in Sagwara tehsil of Dungarpur. “They are also afraid of being sent to isolation wards, away from their families.”
Azad says that many workers fled to their homes using a shortcut through the jungle to escape the screening at the border.
In Dungarpur, three positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported so far. A 38-year-old migrant worker who was working in Indore had returned to his home in Dungarpur along with his 8-year-old son after the national lockdown was imposed. Both tested positive. Later, his 65-year-old father also tested positive.
A migrant worker in Dungarpur shows the stamp on his hand that is meant to indicate that he has been tested for coronavirus. Photo: The Wire
Despite this, the number of samples being tested in the region is marginal. As per the details of tests conducted by the Rajasthan health department, only 331 samples have been tested at Dungarpur till date even though the number of migrant workers who have returned to the area stands at 1.5 lakh. The samples collected from Dungarpur are being sent to Udaipur for testing.
Locals pointed out that the screening is restricted only to noting migrant workers’ contact details and putting a stamp.
“The doctors keep telling us to ‘maintain distance’ when we are near them as if we have some disease. They just ask our name, village name, age, where we worked and phone number. Then, they put on a stamp saying that it is a proof that we are being tested for COVID-19 and that we should now remain in our houses,” said Mahendra, a migrant worker who returned to his village in Dungarpur from Ahmedabad.
Even the medical staff in Dungarpur admit that at this moment, they are only gathering contact details and advising people to stay quarantined in their homes.
“We go to each house in our area and check if anyone has symptoms of fever, cold or cough. If they show any of these symptoms, we ask them to go to the primary health care centre (PHC) and take antibiotics,” says Chanda, an ANM in Dungarpur. “We also put a seal on their hands and ask them to stay at their homes for at least 10 days.”
Locals also say that the medical staff working on the ground is itself not very well-informed. “The ASHAs working in our areas are hardly metric-pass, they themselves have not much knowledge about the pandemic. All that they do is ask for details and symptoms, without telling the migrant workers the necessity for doing so. This adds to the confusion and panic,” Kanti Bhai, a social worker in Dungarpur told The Wire.
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He said that that the police force has also not been deployed in rural areas to maintain the lockdown. “Our people here are not educated enough to understand the gravity of the situation. The workers who have returned homes are meeting their neighbours and relatives in the village. Social distancing is not practiced in our area.”
In the absence of safety gear, the medical staff in Dungarpur is apprehensive going out in the field to screen those returning for COVID-19. Because of this, they have not able to check many among those who have recently reached the villages.
“The medical staff, the ASHAa and ANMs are not quite comfortable in handling the screening without safety gears. So, the screening is restricted to only noting down their contact details and the symptoms as disclosed by the people,” Vinita Parmar, doctors at the Dungarpur primary healthcare centre told The Wire.
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On illiteracy being a major challenge at the moment in rural areas, she says, “While screening in Dungarpur, we came across a man who had symptoms of COVID-19. We referred him to the PHC. When we took him to the isolation ward, he literally ran away from there because he couldn’t understand why we were separating him from his family. The next day, we again went to his house and explained to him politely why isolation is necessary and admitted him to the ward.”
The Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), a political party in the region that sprung into existence this past assembly election, has been working tirelessly to spread awareness about the pandemic among the tribal population of Dungarpur. “Our volunteers move about in villages with a loudspeaker to put out basic information about COVID-19, like its symptoms, how it spreads and the importance of getting tested,” Pavan, a BTP member told The Wire.
Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has also issued an advisory giving out details on testing migrant workers who have reached their villages.
“Migrant workers who have reached their destination will be identified by the district administration and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) team will follow them up at their residence. Those found to be suffering from fever shall be further interviewed by the IDSP team for (i) other symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, (ii) history suggestive of contact with a suspect/confirmed case of COVID-19,” reads the advisory.
It further directs that persons qualifying such criteria must be referred to designated COVID-19 hospitals for testing and isolation.