Non-bailable warrant issued against doctor who concealed travel history to go to a wedding in UP

Singrauli: In a shocking incident, a Government doctor has been booked under a non-bailable section for concealing his travel history and violating the "norms of quarantine" by immediately joining duty, after he had returned from a wedding in Uttar Pradesh. The medical officer had attended this function sans getting official leaves sanctioned.

As per a recent media account, after returning from the function he had sent his spouse's samples for COVID-19 test in the name of his house help so as to allegedly hide his unauthorized leave.

On June 23, the doctor, posted at the help center in Singrauli traveled along with his family to attend a wedding ceremony despite being granted an official leave from the hospital authority. He came back from UP on July 1. However, he did not inform the authorities about the same nor went on Quarantine. Instead, he continued to serve his hospital duties while staying in close proximity with his team members and colleagues.

Soon after, when the doctor's wife displayed symptoms of COVID-19, he decided to test the sample of his wife with their maid's name and details on it. When the test report showed positive, the authorities reached the residence of the maid where the authorities came to know that the maid did not go under any such test, neither was she having any symptoms of COVID.

Thereafter, it was revealed that it was the block medical officer, as well as three other members of his family who are COVID positive. As of now, at least 33 government staff including a sub-divisional magistrate have been identified as close contacts of the doctor and have been sent under quarantine and their sample has been collected for COVID testing. 

Meanwhile, a case has been registered against the doctor for negligence.

Commenting on the matter, Baidhan police station in-charge Arun Pandey told NDTV that "An FIR has been lodged against the doctor under the provisions of the Epidemic Act and Disaster Management Act. Once he recovers from the viral infection, action would be taken against him. The BMO's wife's samples- which were sent in another woman's name - tested COVID positive, after which a medical team went to the house to isolate her; it was found that it wasn't her sample".