SHILLONG, Jan 3: Business at the North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) and its surroundings has not returned to normal despite the improvement in the overall COVID-19 situation in Meghalaya and elsewhere in the North East.
The number of patients visiting the NEIGRIHMS has dropped in the recent past after a rise for a brief period.
Over a thousand patients used to report to the OPD daily. Flow of patients from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram have dried up.
“The inflow of patients was slowly picking up but, suddenly, there has been a drop,” NEIGRIHMS Director, P Bhattacharya, told The Shillong Times.
He said it was too early to attribute the drop to the Umling entry point.
“We will have to wait at least till January 15 to get an idea. This could be a December phenomenon when we have Christmas and then New Year celebrations,” he said.
Not just NEIGRIHMS, guest houses and other commercial outlets near the institute are also going through a torrid time. They have similar stories to tell.
“We have had very few guests since the lockdown started. The situation has not improved since. We have 60 rooms and previously, 45-50 of them would be always occupied. Now, only two-three rooms are booked a day,” said Emhok Lamare of Rest a Whyle Lodge.
Lamare said patients and people from all over the Northeast used to stay at the guest house ahead of the outbreak of the pandemic. During August-September last year, it used to get seven-eight guests. Now, the number has gone down further.
“I am not sure if this had anything to do with the Umling gate. I hope the situation improves soon,” Lamare added.
Kevin John Nongdhar of Querencia guest house said: “We opened in October but we are getting just one or two guests a day. Today (Sunday), only one of our ten rooms is occupied,” he said.
Sparlingpon Thongni, in-charge of another guest house, said they were running under heavy losses as the dormitories and the rooms have been empty for months together.
Cathleen Mawrie, owner of a general store, said, “We used to serve a lot of patients during pre-COVID days. Now, there is no business at all,” Cathleen said.
Franky Buhwan, who sells kwai and other items, said he used to make Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 a day but it has gone down to Rs 300 to Rs 400 now.
Rilang Thabah of Blooms Lodge said its 12 rooms were never empty before unlike today. Food stall owner Everest Ramasdam said it has become very difficult to run the stall in the absence of customers.
