The heart of resilient leadership: Responding to Covid-19, SDO shows his level of humanity while discharging his responsibility to a Covid patient  

I sent my vehicle for him and went personally to Shaktinagar Hospital. 102 ambulance was also arranged similarly by talking directly with Agency Supervisor who run and maintain ambulances.Test was done at around 7 : 15 a.m. , which came positive .  At that time, I received return calls from Dy CMOH - II, Superintendent and Nodal Doctor of Glocal. Patient was later admitted in Glocal at around 8 : 15 a.m. in my presence.

    Biswabrata Goswami

 

    Hummingbird News   

KRISHNAGAR, 30 SEP: At a time when miseries of common people are going to be compounded by dengue knocking our doors and many people raised fingers at the healthcare facilities for not providing health services especially to the ailing patients, a sub-divisional officer posted in Krishnagar, Nadia has shown his highest responsibility and humanity.

Manish Verma, SDO (Sadar) in Krishnagar is such a person who woke up in the morning after being called by an anonymous resident and heard his version carefully, took prompt action and admitted the caller’s father to a Covid hospital. He took barely two hours to complete his duty and responsibility. He even himself went to the Covid hospital and admitted the patient before discharging his ‘primary responsibility’.

Mr Verma, a senior most executive magistrate in the state, is a well-known officer to the Krishnagar residents for his prompt action especially during this pandemic crisis time. Amongst the officials in the district administration, Mr Verma has always continuously put forth his responsibilities in coping with the crisis.

International human rights law guarantees everyone the right to the highest attainable standard of health and obligates governments to take steps to prevent threats to public health and to provide medical care to those who need it. 

Human rights law also recognizes that in the context of serious public health threats and public emergencies threatening the life of the nation, restrictions on some rights can be justified when they have a legal basis, are strictly necessary, based on scientific evidence and neither arbitrary nor discriminatory in application, of limited duration, respectful of human dignity, subject to review, and proportionate to achieve the objective.

The scale and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic clearly rises to the level of a public health threat that could justify restrictions on certain rights, such as those that result from the imposition of quarantine or isolation limiting freedom of movement. 

At the same time, careful attention to human rights such as non-discrimination and human rights principles such as transparency and respect for human dignity can foster an effective response amidst the turmoil and disruption that inevitably results in times of crisis and limit the harms that can come from the imposition of overly broad measures that do not meet the above criteria.

Mr Verma has always played a pivotal role in maintaining human dignity while dealing with the Covid related works.

Mr Verma said, “Today at around 6 a.m., I  received a call from an unknown no. . Caller , one Shubhabrata Sarkar of Chashapara,  Ward No. 20   Krishnanagar informed me that his father Shyamlendu Sarkar , age 76 years and hyperglycemic ,  is having fever and respiratory distress since yesterday's night , which is unmanageable even by giving oxygen at home , and Oxygen saturation is fluctuating around 80 .

I took details of patient and sent those to Superintendent of Sadar Hospital as well as to Nodal Doctor of Glocal Hospital . I constantly rang them multiple times but of no avail. I later rang Dy CMIH - II also. Then, I myself contacted Medical Technologist, Tanmay and convinced him to come to Shaktinagar Hospital to do the RAT. I sent my vehicle for him and went personally to Shaktinagar Hospital. 102 ambulance was also arranged similarly by talking directly with Agency Supervisor who run and maintain ambulances.

Test was done at around 7 : 15 a.m. , which came positive .  At that time, I received return calls from Dy CMOH - II, Superintendent and Nodal Doctor of Glocal. Patient was later admitted in Glocal at around 8 : 15 a.m. in my presence.”

Amidst fight against Covid pandemic, SDO Manish Verma lends help to meritorious and economically poor students to pursue their future studies

Amidst fight against Covid pandemic, SDO Manish Verma lends help to meritorious and economically poor students to pursue their future studies 

    

Mr. Verma said, “Doing well to others brings hope in the world and to you. It is thus self-gratifying. I hope that those who are on the receiving end today will become providers in the future and thus the chain of doing good will propagate. My appeal to them is - pay it forward.”

                                                            

Biswabrata Goswami 

Hummingbird News

KRISHNAGAR, 17 AUG: A senior administrative officer in Nadia has recently appeared as a saviour to certain meritorious and extremely economically poor students to pursue their future studies on hopes to fulfill their dreams.

This has happened when COVID-19 pandemic is creating havoc not only on the mortality front but economically too, especially for those who are poor.

Rima Pal, younger daughter of a improvised motor-van puller of Kechuadanga Bakultala Para of Murutia Police Station in Karimpur was not certain about  pursuing her goal of an honours course in Geography despite securing 94.6% marks in Arts stream of this year H.S. Examination of West Bengal as the Corona pandemic has brought her family below the subsistence level.

Story is not so different for Baijayanta Bhattacharya of Sriram Pally, Bangaljhi in Chapra Police Station who lost his father, a small businessman 7 months back and facing despair despite securing 98.8 % marks in science stream of this year’s H.S Exams of state. He intends to pursue research after completing studies in Physics from Jadavpur University.

Situation of Suman Khan of Kanthalpuli, Chakdah Municipality, son of a tricycle van puller after securing 92 % marks in HS exam with dream of being an engineer and of Sourav Karmakar of Fuliapara in Santipur Police Station, a cerebral palsy warrior and son of a small-time jewelry maker, intending to pursue science stream at 10+2 level were also just a notch above the indigence.

Manish Verma, SDO (Sadar) in Krishnagar who is known to be a Good Samaritan enters into the picture. He provided Rima Paul a sum of Rs. 20,000 and Sourav Karmakar Rs. 10,000 to start their journeys. Suman Khan was provided a laptop computer to take an online engineering admission coaching with a fee paid by that officer.

Likewise, Baijayanta was provided Rs. 60,000 and a laptop computer to pursue his dream. And, along came the assurance of help and guidance in future also to pursue their goals.

In this noble task, another senior officer of Nadia District Administration, a noble soul who wants to be anonymous also contributed Rs. 50,000 and Mr. Asim Saha, Ex-chairman of Krishnagar municipality bore the cost of one laptop computer.

When asked, Mr. Verma said, “Doing well to others brings hope in the world and to you. It is thus self-gratifying. I hope that those who are on the receiving end today will become providers in the future and thus the chain of doing good will propagate. My appeal to them is - pay it forward.”

Nadia administration gears up to dispose of the unclaimed dead bodies from police morgue hours after the news published

Nadia administration gears up to dispose of the unclaimed dead bodies from police morgue hours after the news published 

The SDO, Sadar Manish Verma has requested the chairman of Nabadwip municipality to cremate four dead bodies (unclaimed) per day.  

   

                          

 Biswabrata Goswami

 Hummingbird News

KRISHNAGAR, 28 JULY: Finally, the Nadia district administration geared up to dispose of the unclaimed dead bodies rotting in the police morgue since the last three months at Saktinagar district hospital in Krishnagar.

The sub-divisional officer (SDO), Sadar has written a letter addressing to the chairman of Nabadwip municipality urging him to allow cremation of unclaimed bodies kept inside the police morgue at Saktinagar district hospital.

The move came hours after the news published by Hummingbird News under the headline – 18 unclaimed dead bodies rotting inside the police morgue in Saktinagar district hospital since last three months during Covid situation on 27 July.

Today, four bodies were disposed from the police morgue and these were cremated at electric crematoria in Nabadwip burning ghat.

The SDO, Sadar Manish Verma has requested the chairman of Nabadwip municipality to cremate four dead bodies (unclaimed) per day.  

Amid the steep rise in the Covid-19 cases, unclaimed dead bodies had not been disposed for months from the police morgue in the Saktinagar district hospital in Nadia.

A total of 18 unclaimed bodies have been rotting since the last three months, while the sub-divisional officer in Krishnagar for unknown reason had not granted permission to dispose of the bodies till the news published.

The situation was concerning because the unclaimed bodies were taking up the capacity of the morgue. The district hospital authority was unable to allow the police to keep new unidentified bodies in the police morgue.

The situation had become so serious at a time when barely a month ago, a disturbing video of decomposed bodies being loaded into a van at a crematorium in southern Kolkata was widely shared on social media, prompting Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to tweet his anguish at the "disposal of dead bodies with heartless, indescribable insensitivity" and forcing the authorities to issue clarifications.

“These bodies are also not of Covid patients, but the bodies which are all unidentified or unclaimed should immediately dispose. The morgue has no capacity to take new such bodies as all rakes are full now”, a source placed in the Saktinagar district hospital had said.

When asked, Dr Aparesh Bandapadhyay, Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH), had also said, “I have written to all concern to clear the bodies from the police morgue immediately. I will not divulge anything more.”

A senior police officer in Kotwali police station had said, “This police morgue is entitled to keep unclaimed bodies recovered from police station areas under Krishnagar and Tehatta sub-division areas. The capacity to keep such bodies in this police morgue is 18 and at present all rakes are full. So, if any unclaimed body is recovered now, then it will be very troublesome to the concerned police station as there is no place to keep such a body in the morgue”.

Recently, the hospital superintendent and the IC, Kotwali, got involved in a hot altercation on the matter to keep an unidentified body in the police morgue. Later, realizing the security matters inside the hospital premises (which often the Kotwali police extend their help), the hospital super agreed to keep an unidentified body in the police morgue, a police officer said.

A senior official of the Saktinagar district hospital had said Manish Verma, SDO, Sadar, was the sole responsible for not granting permission to dispose of the bodies from the police morgue. “The reason for not granting permission is not clear, but we think that during this pandemic situation, he is probably not taking any risk”, the official had opined.