In 14 months, Jammu Kashmir Lost 14 Doctors To Covid19
These are five of the six Kashmir doctors who contracted Covid19 and could not survive.
So far, six doctors lost their lives in 2021. Two of them belonged to Jammu, three to the Chenab Valley region and one to Kashmir. All the five Jammu doctors died within three days.
The three Pir Panchal valley doctors who died within 24 hours were identified Dr Tahir Mirza, Dr Mohammad Akram Malik, and Dr Basharat Hussain Shah. One of them had retired as Chief Medical Officer.
Dr Naveed Bashir Runiyal who died of Covid-19
They were followed by two Jammu doctors Dr ML Sharma of Karan Bagh Gadigarh (died in GMC Jammu) and Dr MK Raina of Trikuta Nagar, who passed away at ASCOMS Sidhra.
Two Doctors Die of Covid19
Dr Naveed Bashir Runiyal who died of Covid-19
They were identified by Jammu based newspaper
Daily Excelsior as Dr ML Sharma of Karan Bagh Gadigarh and Dr MK Raina of Trikuta Nagar; Dr Sharma passed away in the GMC Jammu and Dr Raina at ASCOMS Sidhra,” the newspaper said.
The region had already lost three doctors a day before. Dr Tahir Haroon Mirza, 51, who was posted at an emergency hospital in the Akhnoor area of Jammu, died on Thursday at the Command Hospital Udhampur; Former Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Poonch Dr Mohammad Akram Malik died of Covid at Narayana Hospital Katra; and Dr Busharat Hussain Shah. With two more doctors dying of the disease, it has gone up to five. The region lost at least two doctors in 2020 as well.
SRINAGAR: Three top Kashmir doctors who were flown to Jammu for discussions with doctors and understand the factors responsible for high mortality have submitted a detailed report. They have had interactions with the GMC Jammu principle and all the relevant heads of the departments for an assessment to understand the trend.
Government Medical College, Jammu
“This is slightly complex and we have conveyed it to the government,” one of the three top experts, told
Kashmir Life on phone, moments after the interactions were over on Wednesday afternoon. “The health infra is too much centralised in Jammu and then there are a lot of cultural issues in which patients prefer hospital as the last option.”
Around 1100 health workers in Kashmir contracted the infection, fought it and recovered, unlike the five doctors who died. Preoccupied with managing Covid-19 and the crisis the lockdown created by delaying interventions, these frontline warriors are still too busy to tell their stories of pain, loss and hope.
Farzana Nisar
Dr Naveed Bashir Runiyal who died of Covid-19
It was July 2, 2020, and as the light of dawn seeped into his room, Dr Mir Mushtaq rubbed his bleary eyes and got up. He felt a slight body ache and mild fever, which he initially thought of as a normal illness. But when the symptoms continued to worsen even after taking the requisite medication, Dr Mir rushed for a chest X-ray, and the findings revealed some complications. He then immediately got his RT-PCR, a real-time test done and expectedly tested positive for Covid-19, a viral infection that has killed almost 1.5 million people across the world.