Lahore: A law and order situation occurred at the Expo Centre Field Hospital when some members of the Tableeghi Jamaat and other confirmed patients of the virus refused to stay at the centre and broke open the door in a bid to come out of the premises.

They were of the view that the centre admin had unnecessarily kept them despite the fact that the reports had tested them negative.

On the other hand, the Expo Centre management explained the situation saying that under a standard operating procedure they would be discharged after their reports would be negative twice. As they tested negative only once, it would be a high risk to allow them to go home, the admin says.

The witnesses told media persons that some patients were seen damaging the window panes and door of the health facility in anger. As they came out of the building, the police deployed there tried to stop them while maintaining maximum distance from them.

Meanwhile, chief executive of the Mayo Hospital Prof Dr Asad Aslam and MS Tahir Khalil also reached there and held negotiations with the protestors. The CE of the Mayo Hospital was also supervising the management of the Expo Centre Field Hospital.

However, the protestors including the Tableeghi Jamaat members told the management that they got their tests done from the private lab which tested them negative for the virus twice.

Prof Asad Aslam told Dawn that the matter has been resolved after extensive dialogue process. He said most of them were the Tableeghi Jamaat members who created issue second time to get permission to go back to their homes before completion of the quarantine period.

This time, he said, some other people admitted there also lodged protest as many of them were from poor families and only breadwinners of their children. They wanted to rejoin their families to manage food and kitchen items to run family matters, he said.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2020