Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 10 May: The state government’s decision to convert Covid care centres (CCC) into paid facilities is receiving heavy criticism from the Covid positive people who have been sent to CCCs.
Symptomatic Covid patients who have been referred to the Lekhi CCC spoke out against the paid facilities at the CCC.
A patient admitted in the CCC informed that patients are being charged Rs 1,000 per day for lodging and food and Rs 500 without food. However, the prices vary in the districts.
Sources informed that many symptomatic patients are not coming forward for tests, fearing that they would be sent to paid facilities they cannot afford. Reports are also coming from across the state that people from financially weaker backgrounds are suffering as they are neither able to afford the paid facilities nor have the space in their homes to fulfill the home isolation criteria.
In a notification issued on 17 April, the health department had stated that symptomatic and positive by RAT persons would be given the option of home isolation. It said that if the home isolation criteria are not fulfilled, the patients would be shifted to the CCC concerned. All the districts’ CCCs will be paid facilities and the rates will be notified by the deputy commissioner, it said.
Sources informed that the government decided to make all CCCs paid facilities, considering the state’s financial situation.
This daily did not receive any response from the officials on the matter.
On 4 May, the Itanagar capital region administration had issued an order, fixing Rs 500 per package with food and Rs 300 without food per day.
