Surge in deaths, fear grips Hisar villages
Deepender Deswal
Tribune News Service
Hisar, May 14
Uklana block’s 31 villages reported 133 deaths in the past one week. Of them, 38 deaths were suspected to be caused by Covid, authorities claimed. Notwithstanding this, there is a sense of fear among villagers — the fear of contracting the virus and succumbing to it.
The fear is palpable. Village streets, otherwise buzzing with activity, are deserted. Gatherings have been banned and agricultural work suspended.
Rachna, the sarpanch of Kinala village which witnessed 12 deaths in a week, said: “Earlier, people did not take Covid seriously. They neither maintained social distancing nor followed protocols, but the recent surge in deaths made them realise the seriousness of the situation. There is a sense of fear among villagers.”
A team of the Health Department visited the village today and collected samples of 76 persons. An isolation ward has been set up, but none of the ailing villagers has been admitted there.
Realisation dawns
Earlier, people did not take Covid seriously. They neither maintained social distancing nor followed protocols, but the recent surge in deaths made them realise the seriousness of the situation. There is a sense of fear among villagers. —Rachna, Sarpanch, Kinala village
Pvt hospitals overcharge
Fleecing by private hospitals was a major reason that villagers were shying away from treatment. A family living in a village cannot afford exorbitant room charges of Rs15,000 to Rs25,000 per day. —Raju Maan, Member, Cong covid relief panel
Ramniwas, numbardar of the village, said: “Villagers believe they would die if they get admitted to hospital. Persons having fever and other symptoms prefer to take medicines from quacks rather than visiting hospitals.”
In Prabhuwala village, 22 persons died in the past 10 days but, until yesterday, the district administration did not take any action.
“An isolation ward came up only yesterday. A majority of villagers have fever, but they avoid getting themselves tested,” said Prabhuwala resident Bhagwan Dass.
The sense of fear is so much that no one visits bereaved families to offer condolences.
“There are no ‘hookah baithks’ and gatherings at ponds. Villagers venture out of homes only for emergency work. Even work in the fields has been suspended,” Dass added.
Raju Maan, a member of the Congress Covid relief committee, said fleecing by private hospitals was a major reason that villagers were shying away from treatment.
“A family living in a village cannot afford exorbitant room charges of Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 per day in a private hospital,” he said, adding doctors and para medical staff from rural areas had been deployed at civil hospitals in urban areas.
Oxygen beds, doctors and medicines should be immediately made available in villages if the state government was serious about getting rural areas out of the grip of the virus, he added.
