ISLAMABAD – The military lockdown and communications blackout imposed bythe Indian government following the revocation of the region’s autonomylast month has crippled life in the Muslim-majority Kashmir region,reported Al Jazeera.
*Courtesy: Al Jazeera*
The unprecedented siege, which entered its second month, has severelyaffected patients in need of urgent medical attention and better facilities.
Patients are scrambling for medicines, doctors are unable to work due toblackout and hospitals are running out of resources.
For the past two weeks, Mohamad Shafi has been at the bedside of his13-year-old son Rafi, who has been admitted to the nephrology ward of astate-run hospital in Indian-administered Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar.
Rafi suffers from a chronic kidney ailment and needs dialysis every 15days, a medical procedure that cannot be done at his village in Tangdararea of Kupwara, a frontier district some 100 kilometres northwest ofSrinagar.
“We can’t go anywhere for now. My son needs medical care which isn’tavailable in Tangdar. So we are planning to stay at the hospital until thesituation improves,” Shafi told Al Jazeera.
On the nights of August 20 and 21, Shafi took his ailing son to thehospital. He said he was stopped at multiple security checkpoints set up bythe Indian security forces along the way.
Shafi said that dialysis for his son costs 2,800 rupees ($25) each time.While the government-run hospital treats patients at a subsidised price, itdoes not provide the medicine required for this procedure.
Patients are supposed to buy the medicine needed for dialysis from outsidethe hospital. Amid the lockdown, the medicine is not always available atthe nearby pharmacies.
A medical staff member at SKIMS hospital, who did not want to beidentified, told Al Jazeera that many patients at the hospital have run outof money to buy the critical medicines.”We don’t provide them anymedicines. They have to buy them from retail stores outside the hospitaland many of them come from far-flung areas.”
At the Sri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital in Srinagar, Surendar PrasadGoyal and his daughter, Priya, who are from Chhattisgarh state in centralIndia, wait anxiously outside the operation theatre.
Earlier this week, Goyal’s 16-month-old grandson Lucky suffered a seriousaccident at the brick kiln he and his daughter worked at in Anantnagdistrict of Kashmir.
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While doctors carried out surgery on Lucky immediately after he wasadmitted, he is still not stable.
Goyal said he was able to reach Srinagar by ambulance at the districthospital in Anantnag. While he had the money he needed for the surgery, heis not sure how long will it last.
Mumtaza Dar from Beeru village in Budgam district was scheduled to undergosurgery at the SMHS hospital on August 10, but she could not make it to thehospital due to the restrictions placed by the Indian authorities.
Forced to delay her medical needs, the chronic piles patient bled forweeks. As her condition at home worsened, her family hired a vehicle totake her to Srinagar last weekend.
“They should have at least kept the communication lines open. If we run outof money or there is a problem with a patient here, there is no way we canreach out to our family and friends for help,” a patient said.
A doctor at the SMHS hospital, who did not want to be named, said theinflow of patients had dipped by less than half as people were delayinggoing to the hospital because of the uncertainty over the lockdown.
“We only provide medicines to the patients, who are in the emergency.Others have to purchase them from medical stores outside the hospital,” hesaid.
The doctor also told Al Jazeera that at least 60 victims of pellet gunattacks had been treated at his hospital in the last month. Thecommunications blackout has forced the doctors to improvise in order tocarry on their work.
At Lal Ded, one of the biggest maternity hospitals in Indian-administeredKashmir, a megaphone is mounted at the top of the building to call out forthe doctors whenever a patient needs them. In case they are not able tohear the calls, a staff member at the hospital is asked to go to every wardto look for them.
Rashid, who has been at the hospital for the last 15 years, said he had notseen such a situation in Kashmir before.
