Protocol violation: Govt may file FIR against COVID-19 positive bank manager in Khliehriat

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJune 30, 2020

A branch manager of the State Bank of India (SBI) was tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, taking the total number of active cases in the state to 9.

With this, East Jaintia Hills also registered its first positive case.

However, the state’s health department has threatened to file an FIR against the latest patient if he is found to have violated the protocols while entering the state.

Health Minister AL Hek told reporters that the patient is from Guwahati, Assam and has come to the state to join as the branch manager of the SBI at Khliehriat in East Jaintia Hills district.

“He (patient) came from Guwahati via Byrnihat, Ri Bhoi to Khliehriat. On his arrival, the district administration informed the district health authority, which immediately sent him to the corona care centre and took his samples which came out positive today,” he said.

When asked, Director of Health Services (MI) Dr Aman War said, “What happened was when he had crossed the entry point at Byrnihat, he had shown his office identity card and based on that they were expecting that he will get himself tested at Shillong civil hospital but what he did was he went directly to Khliehriat. On seeing a new face, the dorbar shnong and local residents at Khliehriat immediately informed the deputy commissioner who in turn informed the district health authority.”

Dr War also said the incident appears to be a violation of protocols issued by the government. “We are still going into that and if there is a necessity, we will have to file an FIR (as he did not register),” he said adding “I will not say that he has given the checking authority a slip as he had showed his ID card but there was a communication gap between Byrnihat and Shillong civil hospital.”

Stating that the case will be a good lesson for the state, the DHS however said, “We have got our dorbar shnong which are very vigilant and without their help, we will not be able to identify such people. They are playing a crucial role in identifying people coming from outside.”

On the other hand, the health minister informed that the state government has already decided to strengthen the entry-exit points in view of the increasing cases in neighbouring Assam. He however said that since there is so much rush in Byrnihat entry point, the government has decided to allow returnees to register and get themselves tested for COVID-19 in their respective districts.

Hek informed that the total active cases in the state have gone up to 9. Earlier, a high risk contact of a positive case (armed forces personnel) was also tested positive in Shillong on Monday.

Of 52 positive cases recorded in the state, 42 have already recovered and 1 died. He informed that the total samples sent for testing is 19326 and total of samples tested negative is 19,028 while test results of 246 are awaited.