Veroli Zhimo
Based on the data submitted by the Nagaland state health department during a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) hearing on June 30, the Kohima Bench, Gauhati High Court observed that vaccination among healthcare workers in the state was considerably low. It acknowledged that ‘Nobody can be forced to take vaccine unless they volunteer,’ and directed the State Government to ensure that unvaccinated health workers in both public and private hospitals get tested for the virus after every 15-day interval and produce negative COVID-19 test certificates while reporting for duty.
The court viewed that the measures would ensure the safety of patients, co-workers and the community by reducing chances of transmission of the virus from health care workers. In case they are infected they will be the ones who will be spreading the virus to others, it reasoned.
Subsequently, on July 14, the State Government issued an order directing all Chief Medical Officers and Medical Superintendents of all districts to ensure that the mandate is followed in their respective jurisdictions. For the private hospitals, the district task forces were entrusted with ensuring compliance.
While ground implementation of the order is yet to be seen, overall, it can be viewed as a sensible approach—one that ensures safety and also respects individual choices.
However, the same cannot be said for the July 9 lockdown relaxation order or Unlock 2 guidelines issued by the State Government, especially with regard to inter-state and inter-district travel.
The guidelines stated that only those people, who have “completed their COVID-19 vaccination (both doses taken),” is asymptomatic and “subject to adherence to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour” would be allowed inter-district travel. The same caveat, more or less, also applied to travellers entering the state as stated in ‘Para 3’ of the order.
Para 6 of the same order informed that “separate SOP with regard to Para 3 and 4 will be issued by the Home Department,” giving the impression that the government will come out with a clearer guideline soon. However, five days on, the averred “separate SOP” is yet to be issued.
Nonetheless, this move by the state’s High Powered Committee (HPC) can be seen as a push towards achieving the targeted percentage of vaccination in the state and to increase the overall immunity, as pointed out in this column on July 13.
However, the HPC seems to have failed to recognise the common people’s right to personal liberties (as the court rightly observed on June 30) when it comes to taking the vaccine jab. It would augur well for the state to take the court’s observation into consideration while framing the separate SOP with regard to Para 3 and 4 of its guidelines.
Along with this, a COVID-19 negative test report taken within 72 hours of travel would perhaps be more effective in stopping the spread of the virus instead of a vaccination certificate.
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