MINGORA: Like other healthcare providers and officials of relevant departments, the lady health workers in Swat have been playing active role in the fight against coronavirus.

The lady health workers in Swat, since the day first when Covid-19 was spreading in other parts of the world, started visiting each and every house in their vicinity to collect the data of expatriates returning from abroad silently.

“On the directives of district health officer, we started collecting data of the people arriving from abroad and identifying locals with symptoms of Covid-19. We collect the data and report it to our office immediately,” said Nahid Bibi, one of the LHWs.

She said that initially, people in the rural areas did not believe in coronavirus outbreak and thought it was a conspiracy hatched to kill people and accumulate money from foreign countries.

“When the lockdown was imposed, we faced resistance from the community as many people in the rural areas were hesitant and they did not let us enter their houses as they thought that we were spies, who wanted to kill them through poisonous injections under the pretext of coronavirus,” said Ms Bibi.

Lady health workers visit each house to trace expatriates and people with virus symptoms

However, she said, later they removed misconceptions of people through constant motivation and they started giving them information.

Asma Khan, another LHW in Bara Bandai village, said that although majority of people cooperated with them, yet some people hid information if they had symptoms of flu, cough or fever. “However, we manage to get information through different tactics,” she added.

The LHWs said that they would continue their activity till they reached the last affected person. “It is our collective duty to tackle the outbreak and play our role actively. We are sure we will defeat coronavirus,” they said.

As many as 1,205 LHWs and 56 LHVs work across Swat to provide primary care services to women in rural and urban areas by visiting houses. However, these unsung heroes, are ahead of all during every emergency whether man-made or natural.

“I am proud of these LHWs as they are actively working to trace people with symptoms without fear of contracting the virus,” said Izhar Ali, a social activist.

Dr FazalArif, the district coordinator of National Programme for LHWs said that as many as 166,963 people, they traced, were found clear while the remaining 6,008 were reported with minor symptoms of fever, flu and cough. They were advised in a social way for home quarantine, he added.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2020