SHILLONG: As community transmission of the COVID-19 virus has begun in the state, the Health department is trying to upscale its support system by inducting more MBBS graduates, increased testing system and added medical facilities.
Sharing his views on the fact that community spread of the virus has begun in the state, Health Minister AL Hek said on Wednesday that the government now needed to gear up on all fronts in order to combat the community spread of virus.
The Minister also informed that the government is trying its best to sensitise people about Covid-19 and its ill effects even as he added that many doctors who have studied MBBS under state quota had returned to serve the state after government issued show cause notice to them.
The government is going to give them official appointment.
The state for the past few weeks have been reporting quite a number of positive cases on every day basis raising the tally to over 3000. The worry is that nearly 80% of the cases relate to the civilian population.
Initially, Meghalaya was lauded by one and all for efficiently dealing with the Covid situation but the state in the last few weeks have seen a spurt in the number of positive cases which led the government to announce that community spread had set in.
Common man’s concern
As the situation remains grim in the town, citizens have worries about keeping themselves safe without dislocating normal economic activities.
Most citizens this reporter spoke to were of the view that the government’s system must be made more efficient by giving test results faster than it is today. There are reports that some times results take more than a week.
Some citizens who are in corona care centres have told this reporter that while the food and stay were “good”, dissemination of information left much to be desired.
On the whole, the citizens of Shillong have serious concern about the prevailing abnormal situation.
Suparna Shyam, a resident of Shillong said the situation in the state worries her a lot while pointing out that the government was initially stringent in ensuring that people follow all the norms but now it is not stringent as before.
Stating that people in Shillong are supporting the government by wearing masks, she asked the government to take measures in order to reduce the number of cases.
Another citizen, Peter Shylla while terming the situation as unprecedented, asked government to ensure that testings are more efficient while asking citizens to follow all the protocols and co-operate with the government.
A resident of RR Colony, Dipayan Chakraborty said that the situation was complex as the cases were rising while another lockdown cannot be afforded by the people.
