Central team to study cases among BSF personnel, kin in Tripura

AGARTALA: A three-member central team arrived here on Thursday to study the coronavirus infection among the Border Security Force (BSF) troopers and their kin, as the positive cases in Tripura climbed to 152.
The central team, led by GK Medhi, professor and Head of the Department of Community Medicine of the Shillong-based North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health & Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS), will study the source and other aspects of the coronavirus infection among troopers, officials and their family members.
“Soon after arrival, the team held discussions with officials of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) through video link,” a senior Tripura Health Department official told IANS.
On Friday, the central team would visit two BSF battalions’ headquarters in Ambassa, the district town of Dhalai, 82 km north of Agartala. The NCDC and the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) officials would help the team, he said.
The other two members of the central team are Bhupen Barman, associate professor of the Department of Medicine at NEIGRIHMS and SD Majumder, Regional Director of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry.
Since May 2, 152 people — 126 BSF troopers, including officers in two battalions (86th and 138th), and 25 of their family members (14 children and 11 women) as well as a civilian mess worker — were found COVID-19 positive.
According to health officials, 14 BSF jawans were cured and discharged on Wednesday from the state-run Govind Ballabh Pant Medical College and Hospital, a dedicated COVID-19 hospital. The health officials have tested 2,172 samples, comprising BSF personnel, their family members and civilians residing near two headquarters of the force’s battalion.
Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Sanjay Kumar Rakesh said the state government had requested for experts from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to study the COVID-19 infection among the BSF jawans and their family members. The NCDC is an expert body under the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.
The health officials said Ambassa, the headquarters of 86th and 138th Battalions, was earlier declared a red zone by the Union Health Ministry after reporting of large number of COVID-19 cases.
Two persons, a woman and a Tripura State Rifles jawan, had been cured of the infection and discharged from the hospital before April 25. (IANS)