JEYPORE: With stigma attached to COVID-19 continuing to prevail, frontline workers engaged in swab collection in rural areas of Jeypore are facing a tough task trying to convince people to get themselves tested. Locals reportedly are hesitating to give their swabs out of fear of testing positive as a result of which health teams are managing to achieve just 50 to 60 per cent of the swab test target.
Since last week, block-level medical authorities have been organising camps in panchayats across Jeypore block. The move came in wake of the State Government’s directive to step up tests per day. But attempts of panchayat officials, ASHA and anganwadi workers to motivate villagers to come forward for tests have fallen flat.
In Rabanaguda CHC in Jeypore, medical teams managed to collect only 110 swab samples against the target of 250. The numbers are even below two digits in some villages. "We organised a health camp in Akemba panchayat where only one villager of Badakudi came forward to give his swab," said a frontline worker.
The scenes are similar in other villages where health teams have to wait for hours for people to turn up for the tests. "We have been motivating villagers to get themselves tested but the myths and superstitions take over. As a result, there is no significant outcome," admits a medical officer of Jeypore.
About 300 swabs have been collected in the block - a COVID hotspot - in the last one week. On Wednesday, Collector Madhusudan Mishra appealed to people to come forward for tests and cooperate with the administration to check the spread of the coronavirus.