Saying indoors during this global pandemic can save a huge number of lives including the most vulnerable. But what about the lives that such confinement will inevitably endanger? This is a growing concern ever since the present outbreak forced almost all countries across the globe to impose lockdowns.
A number of very sick including those battling a dreaded disease like cancer or needing dialysis to survive are facing many difficulties and their families are in a lot of distress.
Kashmir Oncology Forum recently urged cancer patients and their families to closely follow steps to protect themselves from Coronavirus (COVID-19) while stressing the importance of avoiding being exposed to this infection.
People with cancer often have weakened immune systems and as such, they are referred to being as immune-compromised.
Having a weak immune system makes it harder for the body to fight off diseases, so it’s important for people with cancer and their family members to closely follow steps to protect themselves from the dreaded infection which hitherto remains an unconquered assassin. The most important way to protect is to avoid being exposed to Coronavirus (COVID-19) whenever possible and they include cancer as well as chronic kidney patients.
These patients are not ordinary and travelling to hospitals or dialysis centres is inevitable for them. At the same time, there is a need for the administration to ensure that these centres remain functional as it prepares for more days of lockdown with some reports suggesting extension as deep as May 15. The administration must ensure that both medicine and equipments are readily available and there should be close coordination between suppliers and eventual consumers. The present supplies may suffice for some days but we cannot allow supplies to dry without replenishments.
Also, the lockdowns have corresponded with an alarming rise in demotic violence cases in Jammu and Kashmir even as there might not be any official data to substantiate it.
This situation demands an effective policy for intervention and rehabilitation by the government. This is a delicate task given the fact there is the scantiness of the trained manpower. The government needs to be ready to combat such situations in extraordinary situations such as the present one in which the entire human race has been thrown into. This may wait for the present situation to subside a bit but not perpetually.
