New Delhi: As winter gathers steam in the national Capital, farmers protesting at the Delhi-Haryana (Singhu) border are increasingly reporting symptoms like cough and cold as tens of thousands continue to block Delhi's gates in protest against the three new farm laws enacted by the Centre.
While medical camps had initially come up at multiple protest sites to treat and tend to farmers injured by law enforcement officials during their clashes, many doctors at these camps have now said that protesters are facing two major health issues.
One is fever and cold, while the other is gastrointestinal issues. A doctor at the Indian Red Cross Society's medical camp said that they have been witnessing a major footfall of protesters complaining of headaches and a cold. "We receive about 100 to 150 patients every day who complain of cold or fever," he added.
The doctor said that even though none of the patients had COVID-19-like symptoms, a couple of cases with severe health issues did come up. "These cases were sent to a hospital in Sonipat. We have an emergency ambulance for exactly these cases," he said, adding that the protesters' consistent refusal to wear a mask is concerning. The issue of protesters not wearing a mask has also been raised by doctors in other medical camps.
At a medical camp set up by an independent Sikh organisation, one doctor said, "The protesters are sitting in screeching cold. This is one reason why so many cold-related cases are coming. Another is that the protesters have refused to wear a mask, mostly because they are protesting amid a pandemic, knowing the consequences."
Gurpreet Singh, who is heading a medical camp at the site said that he has been receiving a lot of patients with gastrointestinal issues as well. "These are farmers who are not used to sitting at just one place. Here they are just sitting for protest and having food, which is creating such issues," he added.
And given that many of the farmers protesting are elderly, doctors have also seen several cases of people complaining of joint aches. The doctors said they have been figuring out ways to acquire the required medication as well.
Although masks are being distributed at every camp, protesters have refused to wear it. A doctor at Sikh Unity medical camp has said this was largely because the government had used the pandemic to bring out such ordinances and used it again as an excuse to stop them from voicing their opinions.
"Their lives have turned upside down post-COVID-19. This bill was also taken out during the pandemic so many people believe this was just used to suppress the voices of the people," a doctor said.
Doctors at the camp have said that even though no patient has shown COVID-19-like symptoms, one can not completely rule out people being found positive. Significantly, many news reports have earlier pointed out how protesters are voluntarily testing themselves at facilities set up by the Delhi government.
However, as Millennium Post had reported, some of the farmers had already tested themselves before coming to the protests.