KHAR: Scores of people kept in a quarantine centre for the last several days after their return from Karachi and other cities of Sindh province have expressed concern over lack of basic amenities at the facility here in Bajaur tribal district.

In a video message issued to mediapersons and while talking to this correspondent by phone here on Saturday from the quarantine centre set up at the Government Postgraduate College, Khar, they said that over 100 passengers, most of them labourers, had been residing at the facility for the last 12 days.

They said that the authorities had detained them at the entry point of Bajaur district while returning from parts of Sindh province.

These people said that on their arrival they were taken to the centre for their checkup and coronavirus test.

They complained that the authorities did not provide them with mat, bed, washroom and other facilities.

Say they should be discharged due to negative test reports

They claimed that the food given to them at the centre was not only insufficient, but also of poor quality.

They added that their tests for the virus had turned out to be negative a few days ago, saying they should be released from the quarantine centre immediately.

They also slammed the local lawmakers for their silence over the situation and said that none of them visited the centre to know about their problems.

Meanwhile, assistant commissioner Khar subdivision, Fazal Raheem, told mediapersons that about 120 passengers had been residing in the Khar college quarantine facility for the last 12 days.

He admitted that the people had complained about lack of proper food and other facilities.

However, he said that the administration was trying to resolve their problems.

In Kohat, a convoy of three buses carrying 84 pilgrims of Karbala and labourers stranded in Quetta and Karachi for over a month arrived on Saturday.

According to the regional corona control centre, 14 of the pilgrims and labourers were allowed to proceed to their homes in Parachinar and Peshawar on showing clearance certificates of Covid-19.

The remaining 70 belonging to various parts of Kohat were also being sent to their homes after submitting Covid-19 clearance certificates.

Also in the day, the tehsil municipal administrations of Kohat and Gumbat disinfected the mosques, hujras and rural health centres.

An official of the KDA teaching hospital, Rashid Bokhari, told this scribe that of the admitted patients the condition of five from Kohat was critical.

He said that 13 patients, who belonged to Darra Adamkhel, had been quarantined at homes.

The results of the test reports of 10 patients were awaited while 26 foreigners had been quarantined in the isolation ward.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2020