New Delhi: Members of Tablighi Jamaat that was roundly criticised for being a super spreader of the Coronavirus in the country, have broken their Ramadan fast to donate blood plasma for the treatment of Covid-19 patients in Delhi.
According to the Outlook India, the donation of plasma is taking place at the three quarantine centres in Delhi where some 150 members of the Tablighi Jamaat are donating plasma. Some of them had to break their fast, as it is mandatory to eat before donating plasma.
Community elders have advised that such a ‘disruption’ to save lives was allowed in Islam. However, they will have to fast an extra day later to make up for not fasting on that particular day.
Meanwhile, some Tablighi members, in Delhi quarantine centres, have complained that they are not being allowed to go home despite having tested negative all along. In spite of the Delhi government giving certain relaxations to the lockdown rules, these people are still confined to their quarantine centres, with no doctor or government official ready to explain the delay. Similar complaints are coming from the Narela quarantine centre.
There are many foreign nationals also in the quarantine centres who had come to attend a programme at the Nizamuddin Markaz in March, but were stuck when a three-week national lockdown was announced at a four-hour notice on March 25. They found themselves nowhere to go, as the public transport also came to a halt. These Jamaat volunteers, including women, are from Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia face food and language problems at the different centres they are quarantined in.