Administration asks Kashmir medicos to put 'the dead on ventilators'

12 February, 2013

While people in Kashmir are grappling with stringent curfew for the past four days, medicos in the Valley hospitals are now finding themselves caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

The medicos at some of the premier hospitals in Srinagar say they “somehow manage” to attend their duties but are “under severe strain” while handling the patients injured in police action during protests against the recent execution of the Parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru in Delhi’s Tihar jail.

“It has become extremely difficult for us to perform our duties properly. We have been told to ‘somehow save’ the injured and not let anyone die. We have also been directed by the authorities that if someone dies, the news must not go out. This is just unethical,” said a senior doctor at SK Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar.

The medico, who wished not to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to press, added, “We have been told to put the dead on ventilators which is unheard of in any part of the world. But if we don’t do that, we can lose our job.”

The “diktat”, according to medicos, is condemnable. “We brave strict curfew and humiliation while reaching the hospitals to attend our duties. But we are under tremendous mental strain to handle the injured patients,” said another doctor at the SMHS hospital, who is presently looking after some injured persons.

While officials deny that any such “diktat” has been issued, they candidly admit that they “don’t want anything to aggravate the situation.” “All possible measures are being taken to ensure that the law and order situation doesn’t go out of hand by any means,” said a lower-rung official in the state administration. “We are monitoring the situation. Some things have the tendency to disturb law and order. Those are being taken care of.”

The death toll in the ongoing protests against the hanging of Afzal Guru reached to three on Tuesday with a youth succumbing to injuries. “We are trying our best to provide proper medicare to the injured. But we are in a Catch-22 situation while handling the patients with critical injuries. The authorities are training guns at us even in this hard situation,” said the SKIMS medico. “We must be allowed to work freely. There is no point plying politics over the dead.”