Weeks after a woman in Bengal’s Kalimpong district died of Covid-19 and 10 members of her family were treated for the infection, people in the state’s hill region are acting under stress and fear.
In the last few days, Laxmi Ghatani (70), Sujata Sherpa (22) and Dishan Khati, an eight-year-old, have faced the outcome of fear psychosis among the locals here.
Kalimpong district has been declared coronavirus-free after 10 members of the region’s only affected family, and a maid who worked for the family, tested negative after their treatment. The family lost a 44-year-old female member on March 30.
Although no new cases have been reported in the district that shares its borders with Bhutan, Sikkim and Darjeeling, locals in Kalimpong, especially those who are old and unwell, are facing discrimination.
Ghatani, a resident of Mungpoo in Darjeeling district, fell ill on Saturday and her family members took her to Rambi community block primary health centre the next day. The doctor referred her to Kalimpong district hospital but the health centre allegedly denied an ambulance. After much persuasion, an ambulance took the patient up to Chitray, 14 kilometres away from Kalimpong. The patient was taken to the Kalimpong hospital in a car provided by a social worker named Jyoti Karki. The old woman was admitted at 1 pm and she died at 8 pm on Sunday.
Bimal Ghatani, one of the sons of the deceased, said “Had we been able to admit her in Kalimpong hospital on time she might have survived. Precious hours were lost in search of an ambulance.”
Bimal, who is a carpenter, said “At Mungpoo, local people have made it clear that those who took my mother to Kalimpong cannot return home. They have been told to stay in quarantine for 14 days.”
Last week, eight-year-old Dishan Khati – a resident of Tirpai in Kalimpong – had fever, cough and signs of pneumonia. On April 15, a doctor in Kalimpong referred him to a private nursing home in Siliguri saying that all arrangements had been made and the nursing home was one of those authorized to treat Covid-19 patients.
Yasaka Khati, the child’s father who runs his family by driving cars, said, “Though the government is saying that ambulance in cases like these will be provided for free, I was forced to take my son to Siliguri in my vehicle as the driver of a government ambulance demanded Rs 1500.”
“That was not all. The nursing home authorities refused to admit my son and even policemen did not help. We took my son to the state-run North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH). There, we had to wait for long hours before my son got admission. But we were not happy with the arrangements,” Khati said.
“On April 16, we took my son back to Kalimpong hospital. The boy is doing fine now,” said Khati.
On April 15, Sujata Sherpa, a pregnant woman from the Algarah area in Kalimpong was referred to a Siliguri hospital by the Kalimpong district hospital for a USG test. Sujata and her husband, Sangey Sherpa, went to Siliguri district hospital.
Sangey said, “The moment the hospital staff came to know that we were from Kalimpong, they started behaving differently and told us to go to NBMCH at night. At NBMCH, the staff refused to get my wife admitted as she was bleeding. We were asked to return the next day. We were so helpless that we had to spend the night of April 15 in a church in Siliguri,” said Sherpa. The USG was done the next day and the couple returned home with the help from social workers.
Dr CK Chettri, block medical officer of Rambi said, “The family of Ghatani never sought the government ambulance.”
Jyoti Karki, whose car was used by the Ghatanis, said, “People of Kalimpong are facing social discrimination in other areas.
