Rasheed has been a daily guest at home for more than twenty years. Hailing from Marwah valley in Kishtawar, Rasheed had been here in the Islamabad township for more than twenty years now, earning his livelihood. He recently shared a story with me about his visit to an emergency hospital a few years ago. He had a painful medical condition.
The emergency room staff not only did not treat her pain, but he recalled, “They treated me like I was just trying to get pain meds out of them. They didn’t try to make any diagnosis or help me at all, they called me a ‘Gujjar’ and said I smelled bad.”
Rasheed’s story is not a solitary case, however, thousands of such stories illustrate the negative assumptions and associations we can label as racism, but “most physicians are not explicitly racist and are committed to treating all patients equally. However, they operate in an inherently racist system.”
ALSO READ: Kupwara Woman Gives Birth on Road, As LD Hospital Refuses to Admit her
The Doctors recently refusing to treat Suraiya from far-flung Moore village of Kupwara at Lal Ded hospital in Srinagar drew bold headlines across India and in Jammu Kashmir.
The incident happened on Thursday night after the woman from remote Moore village of Kalaroos area of Kupwara developed labour pain at her home earlier during the day.
“She was rushed to Kalaroos hospital on a cot by a few people as the road was not motorable because of snowfall. The doctors at Kalroos referred her to Kupwara hospital, from where she was further referred to Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar,” a family member of Suraya told The Kashmiriyat.
He said that the doctors initially refused to grant her immediate medical care discussing with each other, “Amis Chu Fakh yiwan, yim chi Gujjir” (They smell foul, they are Gujjar). He further added that the doctors did not want to touch the lady.
Finally, another doctor intervened and the woman was kept under observation for a few hours at Lal Ded hospital, after which the doctors refused her an overnight stay at the hospital.
“We were asked to leave the hospital. A doctor also misbehaved with us, she kept repeating, ‘Gujir Gujir’. After we left the hospital, she developed severe pain again and delivered a baby girl on the road. The new-born died immediately,” the family member said.
The incident evoked outrage across Kashmir with former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti seeking action from the governor of the State.
Gujjar Bakerwal youth took to the streets in Pahalgam and protested against the health department following the incident. “I hope the state functionaries working under the command of @jandkgovernor take immediate action in this tragic case,” Omar Abdullah tweeted.
Here in Kashmir, no matter, how less spoken the frequent usage of slurs and attribution of “bad qualities” to the Gujjar community speaks of the volumes of the rampant discrimination in the Kashmiri society. Slurs like Gujir Nasal (race), Gujir Khaslat (characteristics), Gujir Fakh (Smell).
Hospital officials upon being contacted by The Kashmiriyat said that they had ordered a probe into the incident which has found that the doctor on duty did not follow the Standard Operating Procedure by not admitting the patient. “.. unfortunately the doctor on duty went against the SOP for referrals by not admitting the patient,” concludes the report prepared by the committee that probed the case.
Neuroscience and social science research suggest that if we understand the psychological pathways that lead to prejudice, then we might be able to actually train our brains to go the opposite way. In order to understand those pathways, we have to identify them, talk about them, explore them, express them – and then start to act on them.
“After the baby was dead, we spent the night with an acquaintance in Srinagar and early next morning, we returned to Kupwara village and buried the body of the newborn,” the family member told The Kashmiriyat adding, no officials have approached them as of yet.
“We have not filed an FIR, after we heard that an inquiry had been ordered to probe the incident, but unfortunately, no official from Government Medical College has contacted us to record our statement.”
The concerned Station House officer upon being contacted by The Kashmiriyat said that the Police is waiting for the probe launched by GMC Srinagar to conclude.v”Only after the inquiry team finalizes its report, we can file an FIR,” the Police official said.
A health activist calling the incident unfortunate said “doctors should be posted in areas with minority communities, doing such would sensitize them towards such communities.”