Indian occupied Kashmir is facing a major health crisis with medicine running out, patients being turned away from hospitals and people unable to call for ambulances amid the continued lockdown in the disputed territor, weeks after New Delhi revoked the area’s semi-autonomous status.
People are travelling to get medical treatments in any condition and by any means , no matter how difficult it is.
On the way to hospitals, when patients tell indian security personals that they are suffering from kidney illness or any other,” they ask us to show”.. Abdul Kahllq a kidney patient said, adding “how can i show my kidneys to them, In seven years I have come here for the dialysis but it’s never been like this before.”
Even medical staffs reported they are having troubles in getting for duty. they only can come to the hospitals through ambulance , Indian troops are not accepting their medical and ID cards.
One official, who asked to remain anonymous, told that the number of surgeries performed on daily basis is down by 40 to 60 per cent in majority of the hospitals in Kashmir.
“We have been told to put the routine surgeries on hold as there are fears of people getting critical injuries if protests erupts against the 5 August decision,” the official in the SMHS hospital tells.
Doctors argue that the shift to focus on emergency services is to avert deaths, fearing mass casualties from ongoing protests against India’s 5 August decision to revoke the territory’s special status.
Situation is getting worsen, as Medicine sellers say with disruptions to the internet and reliable phone services, they have not been able to place new orders in weeks., causing severe shortage of life saving medicines in the valley.
Several protesters were injured in clashes with Indian troops but few are going to hospitals. Medical staff told a news channel that they have been ordered to report any one with pallet gun injuries to the authorities, that’s why injured people are avoiding hospitals.
Affectees of India’s brutalism and oppressed people of besieged valley are waiting for the lock-down to end.
