Convincing people to volunteer for covid-19 testing is turning out to be a major challenge for front-line health workers, who face ill-treatment and misbehaviour as they go about collecting samples in villages and localities of the district. With the number of cases increasing, residents are exhibiting strong resistance to get tested.

The issue has emerged a serious setback to the health department’s functioning, with officials finding it tough to meet their targets. A health official said that for past one week, the department has given each health sub-centre a target of collecting 100 samples a day.

“Often, the mood of the people is such that we have to take police force and a member of the civil administration along for security. People believe rumors about testing and covid treatment due to which they resist testing,” said Patiala civil surgeon Dr Harish Malhotra.

He added, “Team which go for collection of samples of persons we have identified in contact tracing and sampling in containment and micro-containment zones face a real issue of their own security.”

The process reduces their efficiency, he claimed. “It has been recorded that sometimes it has taken us three days to complete sampling of an area with 200 people. If all cooperate, the same process can be done in three hours,” Dr Malhotra claimed. Another official added the problem also persisted in towns and cities as well.

In Sangrur, Nanhera village gurdwara, on Saturday, made announcements from its loudspeakers to counter health teams, besides disallowing them to carry sampling. Sangrur civil surgeon Dr Raj Kumar said teams had to make sensitise people that these tests were meant for their safety only. “We usually rope in youngsters from particular areas to make convince people to cooperate with health teams,” Dr Kumar added.