Dissent against Government’s decision to convert a Community Health Center (CHC) at Sonamura in Tripura into a Covid Care Center (CCC) is gaining momentum. Local people living in the neighbourhood of the CHC are opposing the decision immediately after the plan was chalked out in an administrative meeting with Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.
Opposing the decision, local people today hit street and later handed over a memorandum to the SDM and CHC officials explaining reasons behind the protest. Earlier, locals submitted a memorandum to the DM of Sepahijala who recently visited the Sonamura CHC.
Local people are apprehending that setting up Covid Center at CHC – located in a densely populated area will increase chance of Covid transmission. Local people demanded that the Covid Center could be set up in health centers located in less populated areas like Dhanpur, Urmai, Takmapara, Microsapara or Nidaya.
“Administration, even consider Kanthalia hospital in the same district which is situated near a road and is in sparsely populated area”, local people of Sonamura said.
However, the point on which locals are emphasizing is that Sonamura CHC is catering large number of patients suffering from different ailments on daily basis. People of Sonamura and adjoining areas are dependent on Sonamura CHC. If this CHC is converted into a Covid Center, common people will suffer as the existing CHC would provide health care services to Covid patients only, local people argued.
“We have already informed the DM of Sepahijala about the ground realities. The DM assured us that he would take decision after carefully considering the concern of local people”, a youth of Sonamura said. He also said, local people took to the street to scale up pressure on the administration and leave the CHC as it is.
Local people are expecting that the administration would refrain from converting Sonamura CHC into a Covid Care Center considering plight of thousands of residents, said a shop owner.
