After flak from Oppn, Uttar Pradesh withdraws ban on phones in COVID-19 wards

Lucknow: After facing flak from the Opposition over its controversial order banning mobile phones usage by coronavirus COVID-19 patients inside isolation ward of COVID-19 hospitals in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath on Sunday (May 24) withdrew the ban. 

In a circular issued on Sunday afternoon, the state government has now allowed patients to carry their phones in isolation wards after making the disclosure to the officials concerned. The mobile phone and the charger will be thoroughly disinfected before the patient enters the ward. The patient will not be allowed to share the mobile phone with any other patient. At the time of being discharged, the mobile phone and charger will again be disinfected by the health workers.

Earlier in the day,  the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh banned COVID-19 patients from keeping mobile phones inside isolation wards of hospitals in the state. As per the regulation, patients admitted in dedicated L-2 and L-3 COVID hospitals were no longer allowed to take mobile phones along with them in the isolation wards in order to check the spread of the infection.

The order, issued by the state government late on Saturday night, said two mobile phones would be available with the ward in-charge of the COVID-19 care centres so that patients can speak to their family members and administration if required.

The order was issued by KK Gupta, Director General Medical Education, and all concerned officials and directors of dedicated COVID-19 hospitals have been informed about it.

"To facilitate the communication between COVID-19 patients admitted in clinics, with their family members, or anyone else, ensure that two dedicated mobile phones while adhering to infection prevention norms, are kept with ward in-charge of COVID care centre," the order said.

The move was slammed by former state Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party. Taking a dig at the ruling party, the Samajwadi Party said in a tweet that the move to ban mobile phones is an attempt by the state government to conceal its shortcomings and various loopholes in its arrangements for treating the COVI-19 patients.

Akhilesh Yadav’s party then demanded the UP government to immediately cancel the order banning mobile phones inside COVID-19 hospitals in the state.

According to the latest data available on the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Uttar Pradesh now has 5,735 cases of Corona positive patients and the numbers have been growing steadily for the past ten days.