KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Finance Minister Dr Haseeb Drabu camping in Pulwama has had a meeting with around 300 people while visiting the district hospital in the town. People sought three quick interventions from the government.
Attendants asked him that the police should be advised against registration of cases and profiling of the injured because it is one of the reasons why many injured still avoid coming to the hospital. They said some of these people who do not want to get recorded by police have skipped the facility and are treating their injuries in the private health care centres, official sources said. Doctors also supported the demand.
They expressed satisfaction over the quality of treatment in the hospital but insisted that it lacks two key facilities: an analyzer and the CT scan. The non-availability of the two facilities is forcing the people to shift their patients to Srinagar which is becoming increasingly difficult during the ongoing unrest.
Dr Drabu has responded to two demands almost quickly and sought time for the third one. He assured people that the analyzer would be operational in the hospital by later next week. He also took up the issue with the police and asked them against visiting the hospital. There should not be any arrest or a chase into the hospital, officials quoted him directing the police. He, however, sought some time for managing the resource for the CT scan.
Officials said that while three persons were killed in the district so far, the number of injured persons since Saturday was nearing 450. One death each took place in the villages of Nikloora, Rajpora and Newa.
A senior civil administration officer said that the injured included 121 who received serious injuries and 325 survived with minor and mild kind of injuries.
“There must be around 170 security men including cops who were injured in the last few days,” the senior officer said.
Hospital managers informed the minister that they treated 2183 people in their OPD and 113 in IPD. In four days they have had 18 deliveries, 15 C-sections and 46 other minor surgeries. This excludes near 1300 investigations. There were 44 neo-natal admissions as well.
As for conflict related cases, the hospital witnessed 93 cases of whom 44 were injured by pellets, 35 by shells and 14 had fire-arm injuries. Interestingly, however, most of the injured would leave the hospital and avoid the night stay for the fear of police getting in and taking them away. Some of the injured have fought with doctors and left within hours after reporting to the hospital. Reports said the issue had been taken up with the police.
Medical staff of the district hospital was praiseworthy of the local population that was running a free kitchen in the premises for staff, patients and their attendants for all these days. They were also regulating the footfalls in the hospital, doctors said. They also arranged blood donations locally to help hospital manage the trauma load.
Prior to his interaction with the people in the hospital, that last for nearly an hour, Drabu took a meeting of the district officers in which the law and order was reviewed. It also reviewed the availability of basic facilities.
“The district is tense but most of the restrictions are slightly eased in towns like Pulwama, Rajpora and Pampore,” the senior district officer said. “People are moving around in small numbers, mostly to get milk and provisions.”
Talking to Kashmir Life, Drabu said that his stay in town has helped him understand some of the basic issues that people face. “I am working on creating a system that will help the civil administration to manage the key areas that suffer during such situation,” Drabu said. “What is the harm if the doctors who are stuck up in the district are asked to report to the district hospital and manage the situation?” He said the different service-delivery department can have one utility group that can jointly visit the town peripheries and manage these basics.
Admitting that the issue of police intervention in hospital was raised during his interaction with people and the medical staff in the hospital itself, Drabu said it is being taken care of. “Basically, I asked about the referrals to Srinagar and they said the people avoid staying in the hospital because they fear they will be arrested by the police,” Drabu said. “I have asked police, both the executive police and the CID, to avoid getting into the hospital as it creates panic and pushes the referrals to SMHS and other hospitals.”
