Suhail Dar/ Zafar Dar
“I saw the images of children weeping for their mothers who died at a very young age for the want of oxygen, we watched those grim images from Delhi together, the whole family promised we will keep our mother safe, But on Tuesday, her health deteriorated and as I ran, I could see my mother gasping for oxygen, she cannot talk, I cannot let her slip away from me,” said Sonu (27), whose mother is admitted at the Government Medical college in Anantnag. Sonu is fighting a tough fight to keep his mother alive in a hubbub of noise and chaos said.
The premier hospital of South Kashmir located in the town of Anantnag, is a hope to thousands of people, who from various parts of the South Kashmir districts and Bainhal and Ramban districts reach the hospital in expectation of better and specialized treatment. Amid signs and question marks which have been raised time and again, in Kashmir, regarding the covid preparedness, a case of oxygen shortage has been alleged by the family of a covid patient, admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of the Government Medical College in Anantnag.
As covid crisis hit the valley, the administration, in battle gear and at a speedy pace, set-up war-pace measures. The Divisional Commisioner recently visited GMC, Anantnag and took stock of functioning of Covid dedicated ward, besides the recently commissioned 1000 LPM and old 350 LPM oxygen plants. Mr. Pole directed the Principal of GMC to make proper teams, which will oversee the working of oxygen plants besides conducting fire and emergency audit of the hospital and removing the critical points. He also called for strict “no entry” for unauthorised persons in oxygen plants and other important locations.
Stressing on proper functioning of triage centre at GMC, the Divisional Commisioner of Kashmir range, asked the health authorities to monitor its working on daily basis and allocate the facilities to Covid patients, as per their needs and condition.
However, soon covid took a grim toll in Kashmir and the death toll has been ever-rising. The month of May, so far, has witnessed more than 270 deaths in Jammu Kashmir.
Many tragic stories, heartbreaking visuals, humans gasping for oxygen, have surafced on internet and on telivision in the past month or so. As India gasped for breath, the administration in Jammu Kashmir said it was ready for any kind of situation and immediately imposed a lockdown in the entire region.
Though the hospital (GMC Anantnag) was recently promoted as a medical college, Sonu, the son of the patient, who is a 55 year old woman said, “the administration has recently established a plant, which made broad headlines, but the journalists never visit back the hospital to check the functioning, the flow of the oxygen is very low and rather than saving patients, it is deteriorating the saturation of my mother as it provides oxygen flow at a very lower rate than the intake my mother needs.”
The Medical superintendent of Anantnag Medical College, Dr. Murtaza, upon being contacted by The Kashmiriyat said that the oxygen plant alloted by the administration is falling short in meeting the capacity of the hospital. “He said that the flow is distributed or low because we are making sure that oxygen reaches as many patients as possible,” he told The Kashmiriyat. He also said that the hospital authorities have submitted the demand list to the Divisional comissioner, on Friday.
Amid the official claims and counter claims, Sonu is battling the almost inevitable. He runs from one door to the other, seeking oxygen for his mother, however he has to resort to private suppliers and gets two cylinders every day. “Every day I keep monitoring the remains of the cylinders and a wild thoughts hits me, what will happen to my mother, when the cylinders run out of oxygen?” he told The Kashmiriyat.
“I will not know if my mother died, when oxygen supply stops to my mother, the oxygen in the cylinder is about to finish and I have no more remains,” Sonu said. He said that the saturation of his mother constantly getting down, and his mother is gasping for oxygen supply, with every passing day. “On one hand, the administration is making tall claims about presence of oxygen supply, and on the other, people are suffering due to shortage. There is nothing on the ground except for the vague claims and the promises,” Sonu added.
The Medical superintendent also said that the hospital needs at least 160 oxygen cylinders in a day, considering the sort of the inflow of patients to the hospital, however, it is getting only 60 a day.
The exponential surge in Kashmir’s covid infections since the past couple weeks, has shaken the healthcare system of Kashmir. The dire shortage of oxygen supply has turned to be a massive challenge in front of many hospitals of Kashmir.
Medical experts say that oxygen supply is more crucial for covid patients with hypoyemia, when the oxygen levels in the blood are too low.
However, many NGOs have teamed up with the administration to tackle this crises. Recently, reports had also surfaced on social media, that a patient had died due to shortage of oxygen supply in Batra Hospital, Jammu. However, the administration had later said that no patient had died due to shortage of oxygen supply.
The resident of Janglat Mandi said in this second wave of covid 19, the common people are suffering the worst. “I do not care about any official or anything, I want my mother to live, I do not want her to die in front of my own eyes, But who cares for the poor?”