COVID-19: No regular quarantine for lab technicians yet

Two such cases spell out the exact situation in the State. Two laboratory technicians of the GMCH (Gauhati Medical College and Hospital) – Jitu Kumar Khound and Bichitra Nath – were engaged in the collection of swab samples of people for COVID-19 test. After they attended their respective duties from June 1 to 7, both were allowed to proceed home. However, they tested corona positive — Khound on Wednesday and Nath on Thursday — while they were staying with their family members.

This development has posed a threat to the other members of their respective families and the neighbours as well since the duo also went for marketing. Had there been mandatory institutional quarantine for laboratory technicians also as is the case with doctors and nurses, such a risk of community transmission could have been avoided.

Already six laboratory technicians have tested corona positive across the State. Laboratory technicians on corona duty are as vulnerable as the doctors and the nurses. One wonders as to why institutional quarantine at government cost is mandatory only for doctors and nurses, but not for the laboratory technicians.

On April 2 this year, the head of the Microbiology department of the GMCH issued an order stating that laboratory technicians collecting swab samples of people for corona test should be kept in institutional quarantine. However, the order was not followed strictly, and the result is that Khound and Nath tested corona positive while staying with their family members.

Because of jurisdictional limitation of that order, laboratory technicians in most of the districts are allowed to go home after working for seven days at a stretch. They return homes, stay with their family members; and in the process they leave enough scope for community transmission of the virus.

The All Assam Medical Laboratory Technicians' Association (AAMLTA) also submitted a memorandum to the Principal Secretary of Health with the request that each and every laboratory technician should be kept in institutional quarantine at government's cost after he or she attends corona duty for seven days. The association also requested the Principal Secretary to limit their duty period to eight hours in shifts from 8 am to 3 pm, 3 pm to 10 pm and 10 pm to 8 am. Another plea before the Principal Secretary was not to engage the laboratory technicians attaining 50 years of age and above in collecting swab samples. According to sources in the association, around 2,000 laboratory technicians have been engaged in collecting swab samples and most of them are not kept in institutional quarantine.

A laboratory technician of Guwahati said, "When we work for 8 to 10 hours and sometimes for 12 hours with PPE kits on, we experience some sort of uneasiness that may have a telling effect on our mental condition. And the next day, we've to report for duty at 8 am. We want rationalization of our duty hours so that we can focus on what we've have been assigned to."

Also watch: Evening Bulletin | 8th June, 2020