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Regular-article-logo Friday, 26 April 2024

Coronavirus prejudice outlasts cyclone

Could not hire generator: Doctor

Sanjay Mandal Calcutta Published 26.05.20, 09:59 PM
The doctor, attached with Peerless Hospital, had tested positive earlier this month. She said her home in the Rajpur-Sonarpur municipality area was without power for three days after the cyclone struck on May 20.

The doctor, attached with Peerless Hospital, had tested positive earlier this month. She said her home in the Rajpur-Sonarpur municipality area was without power for three days after the cyclone struck on May 20. (Shutterstock)

A doctor, who had quarantined herself at home after testing positive for Covid-19, has alleged that some residents had prevented her family from hiring generators and buying drinking water in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan.

The doctor, attached with Peerless Hospital, had tested positive earlier this month. She said her home in the Rajpur-Sonarpur municipality area was without power for three days after the cyclone struck on May 20.

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“There was no power supply in our area from Wednesday afternoon, just as the cyclone struck. Power was restored on Sunday afternoon. The inverter’s battery went off on Thursday evening and things were bad after that,” she said.

In her neighbourhood, people had been roaming the streets with generator sets on rickshaw vans for hire, she said. “My husband called a few of them, but they pointed out a residential complex in our area and said that people there had asked them not to give generator sets on hire to our building.”

Her father-in-law lives in the same building. He suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and needs oxygen support, she said. The oxygen concentrator, a machine that concentrates oxygen by drawing it from the air, needs power backup to function.

She said the concentrator had stopped functioning from Thursday night and the oxygen cylinder kept as a backup had been exhausted by Saturday evening. “He had to survive on an inhaler in the absence of electricity.”

Some residents told the person supplying water to households in the area not to serve her house, she alleged. “The man, though, said he would provide us with water early in the morning.”

The Telegraph had earlier written about her allegation against civic officials calling her up on the first two days of her isolation and insisting that she get admitted to hospital. When some people of the area had barricaded her building, cops had to intervene.

“This time we tried to call the police and the local councillor but we could not connect with them because of poor network,” she said.

A resident of the area said people had tried to send her to hospital fearing the virus would spread in the area but were unable to do so because of her and her husband’s “high connections”. Her husband, too, is a doctor.

“She told me she knew when to get admitted to hospital because she was a medical professional. I told her that she could get away by staying in home quarantine because she knew people in high places,” the resident said.

“I had seen from my window they were trying to get a generator set. This would have spread infection in the area. But I had not interfered,” the resident said. “Now, their problems are over.

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