The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed one and all to reckon with harsh facts of life and has put everything and everyone to test from healthcare infrastructure, response and responsibility of governments as well as of people as individuals and in societies and so on.
In this context, the question of safety of the healthcare workers including the doctors and their response to the needs of J&K people assume urgency for many reasons.
Foremost, it is possible to argue for the necessity of providing best protective equipments to the healthcare workers irrespective of whether they manage the high risk patients or other sick, referred in contemporary times as non-covid patients.
It is beyond doubt that the novel Coronavirus infection is increasingly spreading among healthcare workers and forcing them to go in quarantine.
In Jammu and Kashmir context, at least seventy healthcare professionals including those in super speciality hospital Shreenbagh Srinagar, LD hospital, Kashmir’s only tertiary care maternity facility, and at district hospitals besides top facilities in Jammu have been either moved to administrative or home quarantine. Some asymptomatic Covid-19 patients often bring infection in non-COVID wards unknowingly and infect doctors besides patients admitted there in the wards. In this context, PPE is a must for every doctor and urgency to address issues facing them is discouraging many others to lead from the front as they are concerned about their own lives and well-being. In other words, it means shortage of doctors and other staff in these hospitals in J&K.
Secondly, there has been unfortunate shuttling of patients from one hospital to other hospitals by the doctors. Ironically, expectant mothers are even not spared; rather they are made more vulnerable. There have been two deaths in Anantnag in little over a week and in both cases medical negligence has been alleged. This goes despite clear cut protocols which provide for management of pregnant women in view of Covid-19. The guidelines specify that women are to be screened in all red zones and samples to be taken beyond 34 weeks of gestation and well before the expected date of delivery (EDD) so that delivery of such woman can be conducted in a safe manner. All high risk contacts or suspects are to be managed at various hospitals and is provided for every district. It is important that the every individual and the administration stays strong and do whatever is possible as failure of either could prove catastrophic for society at large.
Pandemic Puts Everyone To Test
