Install CCTVs at quarantine centres in Nagpur, says Bombay HC

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has expressed its displeasure over institutionally quarantined COVID19 patients not following isolation norms and directed for CCTVs to be installed in all such facilities in NagpurA division bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and Avinash Gharote in its order on April 8 a copy of which was made available on Monday said the installation of CCTV cameras would be useful to check the movements of quarantined patients in and out of their roomsThe CCTVs shall be installed at the Maharashtra governments expense and proposals for the same shall be prepared by the Nagpur collector and commissioner of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation the court saidThe bench was hearing a petition taken up suo motu on its own last year on the issue of the COVID19 pandemic and the condition of hospitalsOn April 8 the court was informed that in several institutional quarantine centres COVID19 patients were not following the isolation and social distancing norms and were seen roaming freely in the facilityIt has been reported to us that because of such reckless and dangerous behaviour of some quarantined COVID19 patients those entrusted with the duty to look after these patients have started contracting COVID19 the court saidSuch behaviour of quarantined COVID19 patients is highly deplorable and needs to be dealt with in a very stringent manner by the authority concerned the HC saidThe court directed the Nagpur collector to take immediate steps to ensure quarantined COVID19 patients are kept in strict isolationWe also direct for regular inspection of all institutional quarantine centres in Nagpur by an appropriate team with a mandate to take action then and there the high court saidIt directed Nagpur city police commissioner and Nagpur rural superintendent of police to ensure police personnel deputed at such centres perform their duty diligently and sincerely and refrain from using their mobile phones for the purpose of entertainment and recreation while on dutyThe court had last week directed for a special Nagpur COVID19 Committee to be set up to address the problems being faced by hospitals doctors and staff and the general public in the wake of a surge in COVID19 casesThe HC on April 8 asked the committee to consider setting up of day care centres for those COVID19 patients who only require a few hours of treatment and do not need to be admittedThis would help as many people fail to get admission in hospitals due to unavailability of beds it saidThe bench said such day care centres could be set up in sports complexes public schools sports clubs and other such placesOn April 8 the committee headed by Nagpur divisional commissioner told the court that it has taken a decision that if any person wishes to undergo COVID19 test then he or she will be first made to take the antigen testIf the antigen test result is positive then the person will be considered as COVID19 positive and advised further treatment But if the antigen test result is negative then the person will be required to undergo the RT PCR test the committee told the courtAs per the committee even if the antigen test comes out negative the possibility of the person having coronavirus infection persistsThis would reduce the load on RTPCR laboratories as the patient found positive in the antigen test would not be required to undergo the RTPCR test the committee saidThe panel further told the court that it would take the help of social organisations to ensure mobilisation of people for taking the COVID19 vaccineThe bench has posted the matter for further hearing on April 20This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever