Assaluyeh workers at serious risk of contracting coronavirus

As the coronavirus outbreak continues in Bushehr province, the MP for Kangan, Dir, and Jam has called the situation of workers at the South Pars gas field in the face of the disease worrying. He warned that "we have passed the red mark."

Workers in various phases of the South Pars gas field in Assaluyeh and Kangan are worried about themselves and their families getting sick, given their working conditions and the spread of coronavirus infection in the region.

ILNA News Agency wrote in a report on this subject today, Tuesday, June 23, that workers, who often live in camps far from their families, are not only worried about contracting the virus themselves, but also fear transmitting the disease to their families during their days off.

In contact with ILNA, they complained about the halt in the distribution of health packages and the contamination of transportation services, and expressed their concerns during the summer maintenance period, given that personnel leave due to major repairs is returning to the previous routine.

Major repairs of refineries begin every year in the South Pars region at the beginning of the summer season due to the decrease in gas consumption nationwide. During these repairs, workers are forced to work together. One of the workers told ILNA: “The refineries and petrochemical plants in the region are witnessing the spread of the coronavirus more and more every day, and this becomes more dangerous when the managers of these industries sometimes do not pay attention to health protocols.”

According to him, the only strategy of industry managers to prevent the spread of the coronavirus is to send workers who contract the virus back to their cities. Apparently, in some South Pars refineries, one week has been added to the monthly leave of contract and contract personnel, but one of the workers told ILNA that this leave is mandatory and is deducted from the workers' salaries.

Workers complain that “no proper practical measures are being taken except for temperature checks at the entrances to the refineries.” Furthermore, due to the infection of a number of drivers of the workers’ transportation service, the density of workers in these services has become excessive, increasing the possibility of contracting the coronavirus.

Saeed Kashmir, president of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, said on June 14, referring to the increasing number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in Bushehr, Assaluyeh, Daylam, and Kangan: "The current conditions in Bushehr province have passed the warning level and are turning into a crisis."

Musa Ahmadi, Kangan's representative in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, has also warned, referring to the shocking daily reports of deaths of coronavirus patients in Assaluyeh and Kangan, that if the situation continues in this way, "a serious crisis will soon arise in the region."

Ahmadi pointed out the need for 100% implementation of health protocols in the South Pars region and the negligence of the responsible authorities in preventive measures, saying: "This very negligence led to the normalization of communications until we reached a point where today we have passed the red state in Asaluyeh and Kangan."

The latest official coronavirus statistics in Iran indicate that nearly 210,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus and 9,863 have died so far. Government spokesman Ali Rabiei says that seven provinces are currently at the peak of the infection and that after these provinces gradually exit, two more provinces will also enter the peak. He called the best preventive measure against this virus to be compliance with social distancing regulations and health protocols by the people.

Iraj Harirchi, Deputy Director General of the Iranian Ministry of Health, also spoke on the sidelines of the provincial coronavirus prevention headquarters meeting on Tuesday about the "visible decline in people's belief in observing health principles" and complained: "The more people's belief and awareness of observing personal hygiene decreases, the more difficult it will be for us to deal with the coronavirus."

But apparently, the fight against Corona in many workplaces like Assaluyeh will not be solved by workers observing hygiene alone and urgently needs the attention of the authorities.

In light of the spread of the coronavirus in South Pars, MP Musa Ahmadi has called on officials to use all legal capacities and, by closing non-urgent projects, prevent the presence of unnecessary workers in the projects and provide them with health and prevention facilities.

In addition, the lack of a specialized coronavirus testing laboratory in Asaluyeh and Kangan has caused the response to coronavirus tests to take at least a week, and all of this has come together so that now not only workers, but also local people have been infected.

Referring to the role of decision-making institutions, Ahmadi asks: "The question is, when it comes to oil contractor workers, do the upstream institutions consider themselves obligated and obligated to closely monitor the contracting companies, especially when the health and lives of the workers are at stake?"

Source: DW