COVID-19 Fear & Stigma: Cancer Patient Made To Wait Outside Rented Home For 8 Hours In Odisha

Balasore: With no vaccine yet for the novel coronavirus, the fear among people is palpable. In the past, landlords have had thrown healthcare workers out of rented accommodation, suspecting that they could have contracted the infection.

On Thursday, a 60-year-old cancer patient had to spend over 8 hours outside his rented home at Sahadevkhunta in Balasore district after the landlord refused to let him and his family in. The reason: They had travelled to ‘COVOD-19 hotspot’ Bhubaneswar for health check-up following some complications.

When the patient, Suresh Sharma, and his family member reached home around 12.30, the owner, Laxmishar Bhuyan, detained them outside. No amount of cajoling could change his mind. Additional district medical officer (ADMO), the local tehsildar and the IIC of Sahadevkhunta Police Station also tried to convince his son, but in vain.

The house owner instead asked them to undergo 14 days in quarantine before entering the house.

Bhuyan relented only after Balasore SDPO intervened. And it was after eight hours that Suresh and his family members could finally enter their house. “My father needs special meals every hour, yet he had to skip his meals and sit outside the rented home from 12.30 pm to 8 pm,” Asha Sharma, daughter of the cancer patient, told the media.