Rajasthan Government has made it clear in no uncertain terms that Misbehaving with health workers and spreading infection will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
The move comes a day after a team of women health workers was manhandled and abused by a mob in Tonk while they were conducting a door to door survey.
In Jaipur a wattsapp group admin has been arrested along with another member for spreading hate messages against health workers and instigating people to beat them. The government has also issued a letter to all private nursing and pharmacy colleges to start functioning so that their services can be used in dealing with the COVID 19 situation.
Health Minister Raghu Sharma said, “Any misbehaviour with health workers will not be tolerated under any circumstances. They are putting their lives at risk to work in these difficult times and save your lives. Law is equal for all and action will be taken as per law, irrespective of the religion of the person who is misbehaving. People are hiding their symptoms and misbehaving with doctors and health workers. This is not something that will be tolerated. It will not be permitted that any person takes the excuse of religion and hides behind religion to infect others.”
Making a strong comment on the large number of Tablighi Jamaat members who have been found positive Sharma said, “The government does not give anyone the permission to that you come back infected and spread the infection to others. The infected and those who have come in contact with the infected should come forward as responsible citizens, inform the government and get themselves tested. This is the only way to check community infection. Doing this is as good as a religious work.”
Results of the government’s resolve were immediately visible as a 24 year old admin of a wattsapp group, Abdul Wajid, has been arrested along with Moin Khan, another member of the group. The accused are members of a wattsapp group by the name of Samvidhan Bachao Morcha and were instigating people to beat up medical teams who were conducting screening in their areas. The two have been arrested by the Galta Gate police station of Jaipur.
Further, the government has also issued a letter to all private nursing and pharmacy colleges to start functioning so that their services can be used in the prevention and checking the spread of COVID 19 infection. The letter said that the government had ordered the close down of universities, colleges, coaching centres, but it was made clear that the order was not applicable to nursing and pharmacy colleges. However, it has come to the notice of the government that most institute heads have shut down these colleges. The order directs them to open colleges immediately.
