Congress MLA Zenith Sangma has suggested to the Meghalaya government to set up ‘makeshift testing centres’ for testing COVID-19 samples.
In a letter to chief minister Conrad K Sangma, the Congress legislator from Rangsakona constituency, said that in the wake of the recent development where some positive cases have been found which took away the life of one prominent citizen in the state capital, the state has to address these challenges collectively.
“The Officers deployed along with para-medical staffs in the entry points to check inter-state movements are to be well-equipped with PPE kits to ensure their safety and prevent further spread of the virus, as it is reported to be inadequate,” he said.
On the need to set up make shift testing centres for specifically testing the suspected COVID-19 carriers, Zenith suggested that the test should not be done in any regular hospital, as there are many patients who are being treated for different diseases other than COVID-19.
“It is very scary to go to any hospital for any health emergency as the hospitals are contaminated places because of pandemic COVID-19. Therefore, I strongly suggest that immediate steps may be taken to establish temporary testing centres for collecting samples and also treating centres of COVID-19 patients before it is too late,” the MLA suggested.
He also stressed the need to prevent penetration (of COVID-19) into the community in rural areas.
“I came across the SBI at Ampati and Garobadha where it was overcrowded. Even today it is reported to be the same with more than 1000 customers overcrowding in the bank. The same may be in all thers banks across the state. The reason is because of DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) from PM’s Jan Dhan Yojana and MGNREGA,” he pointed out.
The MLA further suggested that “so long we cannot overcome in fighting against COVID-19, we may make cash payment through Block and VECs, which will mitigate the risk by reducing the crowd to a great extent and making wearing a mask compulsory.
“It is my sincere submission that the above suggestions may be incorporated while making decisions in formulating future strategies and planning till the end in fighting pandemic COVID-19 and saving precious lives of our beloved people in the state,” he added.