Hours before it became operational, a protest put up by local people stalled the state government’s plans to begin treating Covid-19 suspects at the Medica North Bengal Clinic at Pradhan Nagar in Siliguri. The locals demanded that the facility be shifted from the densely populated area. Local CPI(M) councilors, along with the deputy mayor of Siliguri, Ram Bhajan Mahato, joined in the protest with the locals.

However, the protest was lifted after intervention of health department officials, including a doctor and member of a task force set up by the state government on Covid-19, Prof Abhijit Chowdhury. Prof Chowdhury had announced yesterday that patients with Covid-19 symptoms and suffering from severe acute respiratory infection (SARI), and influenza-likeillness (ILI) would be treated at the around 140-bed Medica, the private nursing home taken over by the state government.

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Prof Chowdhury sought to dispel fears that no Covid- 19 patient would undergo treatment in the facility and that patients would be kept there only till they are tested. He said there was a separate hospital for Covid-19 patients and that the apprehension of the hospital spreading infection was “completely unscientific.”

Deputy mayor Mahato, and the chairperson of borough- I of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and local councillor Snigdha Hazra told the health officials that they had earlier conveyed their objections to such a facility in the area to the administration.

“This is a densely populated area. We are ready to cooperate with the health department but they should understand the ground reality,” they said. Locals said 206 traders of the area had served a memorandum to the Siliguri administration, addressed to the chief minister, stating that the nursing home should not be taken over for Covid-19.

“But it seems our concerns did not reach the highest level,” said a trader, Bijay Dhar. Prof Chowdhury said he would apprise the state government of the situation.

“The state government will not take any step forcefully. People are reacting out of anxiety, which does not have any scientific ground. Efforts should be made to make people understand things,” he said. Darjeeling district chief medical officer of health Dr Pralay Acharya said the facility could not be started today.

“We are looking into what steps can be taken,” he said. Expressing concern over rumours, Prof Chowdhury, who is also a member of the Global Advisory Board for Covid-19 of the state government, said ostracism, stigmatization over the disease were against science and that any superstitious belief over Covid- 19 should not be encouraged. NBMCH official tests negative An assistant superintendent of the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital admitted in the isolation ward after testing positive for Covid-19, has tested negative in the second test.

He has been discharged from the isolation ward. Meanwhile, two more persons were admitted there today, taking the total number to five. Development works stalled Siliguri Mayor Asok Bhattacharya has said many ongoing development projects under the SMC area had been hit by the prevailing situation. Mr Bhattacharya said they had received funds from the state government and many projects had received administrative approval and funds for those were supposed to be sanctioned in March.

Mayor seeks Rs 10 crore Mr Bhattacharya sought Rs 10 crore as untied funds to combat coronavirus, as resources of the civic body were limited, while there was also no available source of income at this stage. In a letter to municipal affairs and urban development minister Firhad Hakim, Mr Bhattacharya has said that the civic body had purchased gloves and masks for frontline service providers.

It has purchased soaps, hand sanitisers and other items for personal hygiene. The mayor apprehended a time may come when they will not be able to provide minimum salary and wages to employees and workers. IDA distributes food Amid the Covid crisis, the Indian Dental Association (IDA), West Bengal state branch, distributed food to 1,500 families at Kasba in Kolkata today.

Members of the association had earlier arranged for Rs 25 lakh and donated to the West Bengal State Emergency Relief Fund to fight the pandemic. Dr Raju Biswas, secretary of the branch of the IDA, said, “Being a responsible citizen and inspired by the humanitarian acts of our CM Mamata Banerjee, it was a minimal effort on our part.”