COIMBATORE: Fear of being in isolation has pushed the people to an extent where a few passengers arriving at Coimbatore International Airport and railway station were allegedly taking paracetamol tablets to bypass thermal screening conducted by the health department officials.
While the screening is mainly to diagnose symptoms of the virus to contain further spread, the passengers reportedly practice this method to show low body temperature.
Health department officials claimed the passengers do not want to be isolated at the health department facility, instead, the latter say they would self-isolate themselves at homes.
A senior medical practitioner at Coimbatore Medical College Hospital said a middle-aged man who recently arrived at Coimbatore from Malaysia seemed to have taken the tablet before boarding the flight.
The official said the body temperature of the man was normal while checking since he had the tablet.
There is no need to have tablets to bypass the screening since the department is doing it as a precautionary measure, the official added.
Official sources in the Public Health and Preventive Medicine Department said the cases of passengers having paracetamol is practised everywhere.
“The passengers are so afraid while we insist them to undergo screening. Therefore, some of them have two paracetamol tablets (of 1,000mg) to reduce their body temperature. We might not know whether the person had a fever earlier since the infrared thermometer detects normal body temperature,” said sources.
Officials urged the passengers to undergo thermal screening without bypassing it as it would contain the spread of the dreadful virus in the community.
Chief Anesthetist in Ganga Hospital J Balavenkat Subramanian called the practice as an injustice to the family of the person concerned who takes tablets to fake their body temperature.
He said, “It is fear which leads them to practice such methods. They think they would be quarantined if their body temperature is high. Such persons are rejecting the health department advisory and risking their lives and putting the health condition of others at stake.”
Deputy Director of Health Services G Ramesh Kumar claimed there is awareness among people to stop having tablets to showing decreased body temperature.
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