Sajad Hameed
Nearly 38 kilometers away from Srinagar, beyond the loud headlines and dazzling photo ops, lies a large village Ferozpura, where a mass sampling drive was conducted a few days ago, and 130 residents tested positive for the covid-19 virus. Covid positive patients in urban localities across Kashmir have the facilities of oxygen and life-saving drugs, however, in many areas like Ferozpora, the covid positive patients are left to their own fate.
Jammu Kashmir is reporting a shortage of life-saving drugs. The Kashmiriyat reported It is unlikely that vaccination of those above 18 years of age will begin from May 1. It has been reported that for the third phase of vaccinations, Jammu Kashmir does not have enough vaccines. “We have placed orders for vaccines but it will take time, at least 20 days. The vaccination drive for 18-45 years of age will start after the doses reach us,” a health official said.
“I tried to get the vaccine at three private centers apart from the government allotted centers but was informed that vaccines were not available,” a local said.
The situation is turning grim. With the irregular supply of doses in Jammu Kashmir, the ongoing vaccination drive, too, is facing challenges. On Wednesday, it was reported that many vaccination centers had run out of vaccines. A large number of people had to return from these vaccination centers empty-handed and were told that they’ll have to wait for new the new stock.
Later in the day, the Jammu Kashmir Lieutenant Governor’s Advisor Baseer Ahmad Khan said that there was no dearth of oxygen, COVID vaccine, Remdesivir, and other things in Jammu Kashmir, stating that the Union Territory is one of the best places, which is managing the COVID situation effectively. Jammu Kashmir has witnessed a rapid surge in the number of Corona positive cases.
Nobody Cares?
In the wake of the upsurge in the Covid 19 cases throughout the valley, the administration, imposed a lockdown from Thursday evening extending to Monday morning. One may argue that the covid situation is under control. Yes, it is so far, but, we have to make preparations for the worse. The incident like the one in Ferozpura needs serious attention from the health officials and the locals as well.
On interaction with some residents of Village Ferozpura of Tehsil Tangmarg, in the district Baramulla, it emerged that after mass sampling was done on the villagers, around 130 residents turned out to be Covid-19 positive, but since then, no one has tried reaching the residents for medical assistance as of yet. “Neither did any health worker approach us, nor did any Asha worker. No medication has been made available to us, we haven’t even been told what precautions to take,” Danish, a covid positive from the village told The Kashmiriyat over the phone.
Complaining that nobody is paying attention to their pleas for medication and sanitization, he asked, “Was the mass sampling done just for the sake of statistics? Just so they could show that these many people have tested positive in Ferozpura? Aren’t we supposed to get any medical assistance?”
The villagers have complained that since they were provided with no help, they’ve quarantined themselves at their respective houses, except for one resident, who’s been admitted into a hospital in Baramulla.
On being asked whether any one of them had received any calls from the health workers, Danish Hamid told The Kashmiriyat that he received a call from a person who claimed to be from some hospital, which lasted for about thirty seconds. Danish was asked to arrange for his medicines by this caller, whose identity is unknown. “They asked me to get Limpsy tablets, but I told them it’s unavailable here, and in return, I was asked to find an alternative tablet.”
And further, when they were asked if any oxygen cylinders have been arranged for the village, the residents refused. Instead, one of them said, “I bought a pulse oximeter for 2000 rupees for myself. But what about the poor? There are several in the village who can’t afford this equipment. Who do we ask for help? There are people who cannot even afford 100 rupees worth of medicines.”
Another resident, Amir interrupted, “Given the situation of the Covid, every family must have at least one oximeter, you never know when the oxygen levels will go down. No oxygen, no medication, where are we supposed to go? and what’s worse is, we were informed that we were Covid positive through a list sent by a friend of ours, no one in the health department thought it was important enough to call us and inform,” One of the residents told The Kashmiriyat.
Officials Say
“We cannot be preparing for the fire when the blaze has already spread, we must have initiated our preparations a long while back, You see young people are reported to be covid positive in the second wave, it’s not only infectious but lethal too,” The DAK president told The Kashmiriyat. DAK president, Dr. Nisar ul Hassan further said that the virus has changed now. It’s mutating very significantly.
Mr. Nisar said that Kashmir is facing a shortage of essential drugs including remdesivir injection and the onus is upon the admin, not on the private service providers, but solely upon the administration. “They should avail the drugs in Government hospitals and free of cost.”
He told The Kashmiriyat that there is a lack of intensive care unit beds (ICU) for combating the virus. “We don’t have many ICU beds and ventilators in the valley, we need more dedicated ICU beds and ventilators to save covid patients from dying.” He also added that the first wave of covid taught us a lesson, so the administration should have been prepared for the second wave. And moreover, people are not following covid 19 protocols, and if the situation continues to be like this, the administration should impose a lockdown, at least for two weeks till the positive cases are down from the graph.
Meanwhile, the director of health services in Kashmir upon being contacted by The Kashmiriyat said that “when it was time, people did not take any precautions, and now that Covid-19 is on the surge, they are blaming it all on the health department. People are equally responsible for this situation that we are caught up in.”
Nonetheless, the administration is prepared to deal with any situation, be it the life-saving drugs or the vaccination drive. “The vaccination process will be rolled out soon,” he told The Kashmiriyat.
The director of health also took particular notice of this case and responded that several cases end up being unreported.