Ideally September 7, 2014 floods should have served as a warning for our sleepy administration who seem to have developed a penchant for acting only when water is literally over our heads. But unfortunately it did not. It took us just six months to forget one of the greatest catastrophes in Kashmir’s history. We did not take any lessons from it. Rather we are back to our old ways of dealing with disasters-in-the-making situations.
With six reported deaths so far across Kashmir, Swine Flu is very much a reality rather a disease that is killing people in some far-off place. We cannot just close our eyes and wish Swine Flu to go away. It does not work that way at all in a modern society. One has to be ready for such challenging situations and fight it off with courage and resources available, in order to save precious human lives. But everything seems to be working in a reverse order when it comes to Kashmir.
Rather than finding ways to deal with the Swine Flu our administration (including the top doctors) are keeping things under wraps for god knows what reason. What they should be doing right now is to make arrangements for a looming catastrophe that has already claimed thousands of lives across the world. So what makes our administration think that Swine Flu will simply pass-by Kashmir without harming our noble souls is beyond reason or logic.
But in a place like Kashmir everybody but people at the helm of affairs seems to have both reason and logic.
By closing our eyes in the face of impending disaster is like wishing for a miracle while offering our neck under a knife.
It is really ironic the way hospitals and top doctors are coming out boldly to deny the presence of Swine Flu virus in Kashmir. In last six months some 80 plus cases were reported from across the region while six of them are already dead. According to World Health Organization, if a single death occurs because of Swine Flu in a particular place, it should be declared an epidemic immediately. But despite six confirmed deaths in last few days and more cases coming to fore, doctors at SKIMS refuse to be worried. They have been maintaining that everything is under control. Knowing their capacity and preparedness we all know what ‘everything is under control’ actually means. It means they have no idea what they are saying. And worst of all that they don’t know how to deal with this ‘everything is under control’ situation.
With a formal government missing let us hope that the governor finally takes a call in this regard and keeps all the hospitals on high alert and prepared so that we are ready to deal with any situation. After recent floods we should be looking at worst case scenarios and not the best ones. Only then we can avert a disaster.
